WILL REBRANDING OF THE INR BE OF ANY HELP TO THE COUNTRY ?

After much delay and controversies surrounding the competiton that was declared way back in February 09 by Mr. Mukherjee,the verdict is finally out.

Out of nearly 3000 entries that were received,a team of jury members(which included eminent faculty and designers from some of the top design institues of the country and was headed by the RBI Deputy Chief-Ms. Usha Thorat) decided upon the top five symbols which were later submitted to the Cabinet for further approval.Mr Udaya Kumar,a Post Graduate student of IIT Mumbai was selected to be the winnner,whose creation will represent our very own rupee internationally.

It is a fusion of the sounds of The Roman letter ‘R’ and the Devanagri ‘Ra’ along with 2 horizontal bars placed on top which represents the Indian Tricolour and is also equivalent to the symbol ‘equal to’. “Since the symbol has the Devanagri letter incorporated,it very well represents the culture and ethos of our Nation-which was the very theme of the competition.Now that the Rupee has got a symbol,it will be seen all over ”said an enthralled Kumar when asked about what he had to say about his work being chosen.He will be receiving a cash prize of Rs. 2.5 Lakh as a reward while the other top 4 finalists will be receiving an amont of Rs.25,000 each.

From time and now,we have learnt that re-invention is the mother of all necessity.An employee who fails to enhance his knowledge and skills gets empowered by somebody else.A doctor who fails to stay up to date with new treatment procedures and medicines stays at the risk of losing his ability to practise,leave aside the horror of playing with the lives of his patients.Even the most successful and established brands have re-invented to aquaint themselves with the people and the thoughts of the new generation,Godrej and Videocon to give examples among a few.

So to sum up, what I am trying to say is that India indeed has taken a step in the right direction by establishing a symbol for the rupee as it will -

1) Leverage prestige along with raising India’s economic profile.

2) It will serve as a convenient way of distinguishing the Indian rupee from the similar sounding currencies of the south and south eastern countries of Asia like Nepal’s Rupaiya and Pakistan’s-Rupee.

3) Make ambitions of a global, robust economy and international standing clear.

4) As I have mentioned earlier,it will create a Brand image for India,which if supplemented with appropriate actions can do wonders for the economy.

We all know that at present, there are only 4 currencies that have a symbol i.e the USD,British Pound,Japanese Yen and the European Euro.These denote strong economies and global currencies and therefore the power of symbolism and the effects of India joining the league are clear! An occasion worth celebrating indeed!

But just like the way each coin has two sides, I’d like to put forward the other aspects.
These countries that I have just mentioned have a strong economy to boast about.They are involved in all the major global financial transactions and besides that, if you have ever travelled abroad then you will realise that these currencies are accepted in any part of the world!Does the same apply to our currency?

You might argue that maybe at present it doesn’t,but considering the way our economy has withstanded the global recession,it will emerge as one of the strongest economies in the near future as it is presently the second largest growing economy after China.

Well,sure we are excelling in almost every field like Science,technological innovations ,IT and are one of the strongest emerging infrastucture development hubs, with the recent achievement of the completion of Terminal 3 of the International Indira Gandhi airport within a span of 37 months!Also over 8 percent GDP growth to brag about.But all this admist rising flood inflation rates,poor employment ratios,Naxalite attacks,lack of basic facilities like electricity and drinkable water in rural areas and the list is endless.In such a situation instead of attending to these problems,we instead choose to market ourselves as an emerging economy then we are fooling ourselves.

Its time to wake up guys,the show must go on..but not are the expense of ignoring our core problems.Just as the Finance Minister is doing his job responsibly,if the other Ministers choose to do the same,then our problems will be way behind us..