Mass use of rupee symbol will take 4-5 yrs

The rupee symbol will have to wait a while before making it to the mainstream. And the wait could be up to five years, twice the government claim of two years. However, for keyboard manufacturers in India, this would throw up a recurring business opportunity to make 3-3.5 million units annually, a business opportunity worth Rs 25-30 crore.

According to various design experts, mass usage of the rupee symbol within five years will also be an achievement considering that the euro rollout took nearly a decade from inception to its usage.

?The saga of India?s own unique currency symbol has not ended with its announcement, but simply begun. The Unicode Standard may take over two years for devising the code, while the necessary amendments to Indian script code will easily take up to two years,? said a senior official in the National Institute of Design, India?s leading authority on design.

?Of course, the government will have to incorporate its usage right from pre-school if it wishes the future generation to use it and take pride in it,? the official said, requesting anonymity.

Technology companies have made cautious statements on debut of the rupee symbol on computers. Microsoft, TVS Electronics, HCL and others see the mass usage of rupee symbol incorporated software and hardware after approval from the Unicode Standard and Indian script Code for Information Interchange.

However, according to the Manufacturers? Association for Information Technology, India currently has a market of around 3 million keyboards for homegrown manufacturers.

?There is a big market for keyboard manufacturers initially as a direct result of the incorporation of the rupee symbol on keyboards. How-ever, there will always be a combination of existing keys on the keyboard that would also produce the rupee symbol just as the euro symbol cur-rently,? said a Noida-based local manufacturer of computer parts.

The government has outlined 18-24 months for the rupee symbol to enter the daily lives of Indians. According to sources, a detailed note in this regard will be reach the Bureau of Indian Standards by next week.

?The BIS will be responsible for all the necessary changes required towards the incorporation of the rupee symbol as per the domestic standards. We will also put pressure on Unicode Consortium for the same on the international front,? a government official involved with the process told FE.