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Until 2010, India didn’t have an official currency symbol. People just used “Rs”—a plain abbreviation with no real identity.
The winning design was created by a young architect named Uday Kumar. (Representative Image)
Most of us see the Indian rupee symbol (₹) every day. It appears on shop boards, banknotes and digital screens. It feels so familiar now that we rarely think about where it came from. But the story behind its design is far more layered than most people know.
An Instagram video has gone viral tracing the ‘Behind the Scenes’ story of this symbol that gave India’s currency a new face.
Until 2010, India didn’t have an official currency symbol. People just used “Rs”—a plain abbreviation with no real identity. That changed when the government held a National Design Competition to find a new symbol.
The winning design was created by a young architect named Uday Kumar. His symbol was a beautiful mix of the Devanagari ‘Ra’ (र) and the Roman ‘R’, crossed with two horizontal lines. It was simple, modern and instantly recognisable. Naturally, Uday got the spotlight. His symbol became the face of Indian currency.
But there’s more to this story.
The creator said, “Five years before the competition, another architect—Nondita Correa-Mehrotra—had the same idea. In 2005, she asked a basic but powerful question: Why doesn’t India have a proper symbol for its currency?”
She noticed how symbols like the dollar, euro, and yen carried more than just value. They carried pride, identity, and global presence. So she sketched her version—a Devanagari ‘Ra’ (र) with two small horizontal lines near the top. She didn’t keep it to herself. She sent the design to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and even the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
She never heard back.
In 2010, when the official competition was announced, something interesting happened. Many of the top designs looked very similar to Nondita’s 2005 sketch. She even entered the competition again and made it to the top five.
The video concluded saying, “Let’s be honest: Uday Kumar’s design was clean, clear, and deserved to win. But Nondita’s early effort may have sparked the idea in the first place. She helped start a conversation long before it was trendy or official.”
It’s no surprise that both of these designers were trained architects. Architecture isn’t just about buildings. It’s about systems, symbols and how design can shape a country’s identity.
A team of writers at News18.com bring you stories on what’s creating the buzz on the Internet while exploring science, cricket, tech, gender, Bollywood, and culture.
A team of writers at News18.com bring you stories on what’s creating the buzz on the Internet while exploring science, cricket, tech, gender, Bollywood, and culture.
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- Location :
Delhi, India, India
- First Published:
