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The Tamil Nadu government replaced the Rupee symbol with ‘Ru’ in its state Budget document, escalating the language row with the Centre.
Tamil Nadu govt replaces ₹ with Ru in state Budget document (Shutterstock Image)
The Tamil Nadu government escalated the language war with the Centre on Thursday as the DMK-led MK Stalin government replaced the rupee symbol in the state Budget document with a Tamil letter ‘Ru’, which comes from ‘rubai’.
Ironically, the rupee symbol ‘₹’ was designed by Udaya Kumar, the son of a former DMK MLA and currently an IIT professor.
Speaking to CNN-News18, Udaya reacted to the replacement of the symbol and said, “It’s the government that has made the decision. I just heard the news. Many times, when all your designs are not successful it changes. I don’t know how to react to it as it’s the government’s decision to do so. The central government is trying to keep the symbol the same…I cannot comment on it; I don’t know what to say about it.”
Designing Rupee Symbol
The iconic rupee symbol (₹) has a history that dates back to 2010. Udaya, then a postgraduate student at IIT Bombay, was on the verge of joining the design department at IIT Guwahati when he won a national competition to create India’s official currency symbol, beating hundreds of other entries.
On July 15, 2010, the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government officially introduced the symbol, marking a significant moment in India’s monetary history.
Who Is Udaya Kumar, Designer Of ₹?
Udaya, who was born in Marur near Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, is the son of N Dharmalingam, a former DMK MLA.
Udaya detailed how he came up with the unique symbol. He revealed that he took elements from the Devanagari and Roman scripts to design the ₹ symbol.
He explained that the final design seamlessly blends the Devanagari ‘Ra’ from rupiah and the Roman ‘R’ from rupees, creating a symbol that embodies both India’s heritage and a universal identity.
Udaya has so far designed logos for various institutions, including those of IIT-Hyderabad and the National Testing Agency (NTA). He is now the head of the design department at IIT Guwahati.
The BJP lashed out at the Tamil Nadu government over the move and said that it was a “stupid” step.
“The DMK government’s state Budget for 2025-26 replaces the rupee symbol designed by a Tamilian, which was adopted by the whole of Bharat and incorporated into our currency. How stupid can you become, Stalin?” Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai posted on X.
