The winning entry from IIT Bombay student D Udaya Kumar is a blend of ‘Ra’ in Devanagri script and ‘R’ in Roman. Two parallel lines crossing this ‘Ra’ or ‘R’ denote the symbol “is equal to” one Indian rupee.

Udaya Kumar’s entry was selected from among five shortlisted entries. But the IIT graduate, who is on his way from Powai to IIT Guwahati, is not going to get a copyright though he is going to get an award of Rs 2.5 lakh for his contribution. The rights will be with the government.

The selection was based on the decision of a jury headed by Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Usha Thorat.

While the new symbol will replace the Rs or Re that is used at present, it will not be used on currency notes and coins. And, it could take up to 24 months before the shift to the new symbol takes place as the government will use the time for its incorporation in the Unicode Standard and International standard ISO. It will also be included in the Indian Standards through Indian Script Code for Information Interchange (ISCII) through an amendment to the existing list by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The ISCII specifies various codes for Indian languages for processing on computers along with keyboard layouts.

Once the symbol is notified by BIS, software association Nasscom will approach IT companies for incorporating it in their operative software to enable the computer users worldwide to use the symbol even if it is not embedded on the keyboards. This will be on the lines of Euro symbol, which is not embedded on the keyboards used in India. Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology will direct its members to make the changes in the production processes.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, who briefed the media after the Union cabinet approved the symbol in the morning, said encoding the symbol in Indian Standards is estimated to take around six months. In addition, there will be encoding in the Unicode and International Standards which will take 18 months to two years