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The Bank of Hindostan, General Bank of Bengal and Bengal Bank became the first banks in India to issue paper currency in the 18th Century. During this time, paper money was first issued in British India
D. Udaya Kumar, the son of former DMK MLA N Dharmalingam, in 2010 won a national contest to design a symbol for the Indian rupee. (File Photo)
The Tamil Nadu government led by MK Stalin has replaced the official India Rupee symbol with the Tamil letter ‘ரூ’ as the logo for its state budget, adding fuel to the language controversy in the country.
This came ahead of the unveiling of the state budget by CM Stalin and when the use of regional languages in official communication has created acrimony between the state and the Centre.
Stalin, who will be presenting the state budget for FY26 on March 14, posted a video on his X, which showed the logo of the document that read “Tamil Nadu Budget 2025-26. Everything for everyone.” This also had the letter ரூ (read as ‘Ru’) instead of the standard rupee symbol, contrary to the state’s 2024 logo.
Although India has 22 official languages and Tamil is one of them, but as a standard practice, the INR currency has only one symbol, which is inspired from the Devanagari letter र (read as Ra) and Roman letter ‘R’.
Let us find out the evolution of the Indian Rupee symbol and who designed the rupee logo.
Indian Currency Reforms
The origin of the word “Rupee” is from Sanskrit word ‘Rupya’ which means shaped, stamped, impressed or coin and also from the Sanskrit word “raupya” which means silver.
Since the Republic of India was born, paper currency had been periodically transformed to reflect the needs of the time.
Paper currency in India came into existence with the entry of European entrepreneurs and particularly with the establishment of financial institutions like the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar, the Bank of Hindoostan and the Bank of Bengal. Before paper currency, coinage was the normal form of currency and their nature differed from region to region within India.
Historians in fact use currency as an important source for the understanding of historical processes.
Ancient India
The earliest issuers of coins in the world are the Ancient Indians along with Chinese and Lydians from the Middle East. The first Indian coins were minted in the 6th Century BC by the Mahajanpadas (the Republic Kingdoms of ancient India) known as Puranas, Karshapanas or Panas.
These coins had irregular shapes, standard weight and are made up of silver with different markings like Saurashtra had a humped bull, Dakshin Panchala had a Swastika and Magadha had several symbols.
Then Mauryas introduced the Punch Marked Coins minting of silver, gold, copper or lead and Indo-Greek Kushan kings brought in the Greek custom of engraving portraits on the coins.
The Turkish Sultans of Delhi had replaced the royal designs of Indian kings with Islamic calligraphy by the 12th Century AD. The currency was made up of gold, silver and copper known as Tanka and lower valued coin known as Jittals.
The Mughal Empire from 1526 AD consolidated the monetary system for the entire empire. Evolution of rupee occurred when Sher Shah Suri defeated Humayun and issued a silver coin of 178 gms known as rupiya and was divided into 40 copper pieces or paisa and during the whole Mughal period silver coin remained in use.
Before Independence: British India
During the British East India Company, that is, 1600, the Mughal currency remained popular but in 1717 AD, Farrukh Siyar, the Mughal Emperor, gave permission to the Britishers or the English to coin Mughal money at the Bombay mint. Then British gold coins were termed as Carolina, the silver coins as Angelina, the copper coins as Cupperoon and the tin coins as Tinny.
In the 18th Century, the Bank of Hindostan, General Bank of Bengal and Bihar and the Bengal Bank became the first banks in India to issue paper currency i.e. during this time paper money was first issued in British India.
In 19th century the Britishers introduced paper money into the subcontinent. The Paper Currency Act of 1861 gave the government the monopoly of note issued throughout the vast expanse of British India.
When in 1858 the Mughal reign ended and the British Crown gained control over 100 princely states, the images on the coins were replaced by portraits of the Monarch of Great Britain.
The first set of notes issued by the British government were the Victoria portrait series of denominations 10, 20, 50, 100 and 1000.
The exigencies of the First World War made it necessary to issue new notes of smaller denominations. Therefore, these notes were further replaced in 1923 with new notes carrying the portrait of King George V. The King’s portrait continued to be used on all currency bills issued by the British government in India till Independence.
Finally, the Reserve Bank of India was set up in 1935 and empowered to issue the Government of India notes. It had also printed 10,000 rupee notes and was later demonetised after Independence. And the first paper currency issued by RBI was a Rs 5 note bearing King George VI’s portrait, in January 1938.
Republic Of India
When India became a Republic in 1950, the portrait of King George V was removed from the currency notes and symbols of Independent India were printed. The Rupee 1 note was issued which carried the emblem of the Lion Capital in Sarnath.
New notes were introduced in the country in 1953 which carried texts in Hindi and had images of iconic architectural marvels like the Tanjore temple and the Gateway of India.
Due to economic constraints of the 1960s, smaller notes were issued. In 1969, the Reserve Bank of India issued the Mahatma Gandhi Birth Centenary Commemorative design series on Rs 5 and Rs 10 notes.
In 1983-84, Rs 20 banknotes were issued in which at reverse of it consists of the Buddhist wheel.
In June 1996, Rs 10 notes were issued with front image of Gandhi and represented the fauna of India, symbolizing the biodiversity, at the back. Earlier in 1981, Rs 10 notes consisted of the lion emblem at front and back.
In March 1997, Rs 50 notes were issued consisting of Gandhi image at front of it and at reverse Indian Parliament.
In November 2000, Rs 1,000 notes were issued with the front image of Gandhi and at reverse of it represented the Indian economy, which had Grain Harvesting i.e. agricultural sector, oil rig; manufacturing sector, Space Satellite dish; Science & research, Metallurgy; Mines & Minerals and a Girl working on a computer; Inclusive Technology.
In November 2001, Rs 5 denomination was issued with Mahatma Gandhi’s image in front and back of the note, showing farm mechanization process i.e. the progress through agriculture.
Who Designed The New Indian Rupee Logo?
In the Tamil language, the currency is called as Ruupaai. Not only in India, the same word is used Sri Lanka by Tamils for their currency.
D. Udaya Kumar, the son of former DMK MLA N Dharmalingam, who worked in the Department of Design at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, in 2010 won a national contest to design a symbol for the Indian rupee.
His design, which incorporated elements of the Devanagari and Roman scripts, was selected from among hundreds of entries to represent the Indian currency.
The design is based on the Devanagari letter ‘र’ and has a double horizontal line at the top half.
Amidst the rupee symbol row, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya said on X, “Udaya Kumar Dharmalingam is an Indian academic and designer, son of a former DMK MLA, who designed the Indian rupee (₹) sign, which was accepted by Bharat. Chief Minister MK Stalin is insulting Tamilians by dropping the ₹ sign from the Tamil Nadu Budget 2025-26 document. Just how ridiculous can one get?”
