Computer Keyboard with the Official symbol for Indian Rupee

The currency of the Nation the “Indian Rupee” used to be represented by Rs. Or Re. During March 2009, Indian Govt. announced a contest to create a symbol for the rupee. During the 2010 Union Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee stated that the proposed symbol would reflect he ethos and culture of the Nation. The Cabinet selected the definitive symbol created by D Udaya Kumar on 15/7/10. The symbol is derived from a combination the Devanagari letter ‘र’ and English letter ‘R’. The parallel lines at the top (with white space between them) make an allusion to the tricolour and also depict an equality sign which symbolizes the nation's desire to reduce economic disparity.

There is no place without use of computers and all do know the keyboard (which is basically an input device) made similar to the typewriter keyboard (how many of you have used the utopian device !) – the keys are arranged universally in the same manner. This is known as “Qwerty” design – indicating the order of the keys in the second row (the first row being the numbers which would represent symbols with shift). This pattern was designed to minimize type bar clashes !!!!

Characters engraved or printed on keys represent the symbol and when pressed, the same gets represented on the screen and subsequently on paper. In a computer besides the Numbers and letters, there are other keys which represent functions or other tasks. The interpretation of key presses is generally left to the software which produces controls or actions – there are special key stroke combinations which determine the action or the application.

There are many types of keyboards – differentiated by the techonology that goes into manufacturing and their operation. Usually they have the switch technology which affects the key response. Some have flat panel membrane and few have mechanical key boards. There would be a circuit board under a rubber or silicon key pad. Hybrid models which use combination are generally cost saving. Thus you have keyboards from Rs.250/- in the local market.

The choice of switch technology affects key response (the positive feedback that a key has been pressed) and travel (the distance needed to push the key to enter a character reliably). Newer models use hybrids of various technologies to achieve greater cost savings.   Mechanical key boards are costlier – they have real switches, one under each key. Depending upon the construction of the switch, these keyboards have varying responses and travel times. TVS Electronics are market leaders in mechanical key board segment.


It is in some ways a late news – TVS Electronics made claims on Aug 15 to be the first company to have incorporated the recently designed Rupee symbol in their Gold Bharat Keyboard. With this launch, they expect to strengthen their market share further. The market is reported to be close to 35 lakh units per year.


According to the TVS E, this device is attributed with a cherry mechanical switch that can take up to 50 million keystrokes. It is compatible with the Windows and Linux OS. Cited to offer over 2,00,000 hours MTBF, the keys of this gadget are shielded from wear and tear thanks to laser etched keycaps. Additionally, this bilingual keyboard can support a host of Indian languages like Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Assamese and more.

The MD of the Company said that “We are proud to depict the Indian Rupee symbol in our keyboard and we are the first and only Indian manufacturer to do so,” The keyboard according to market is available for Rs.1500/- approx.

The representation of symbol of the National currency enthused me to share this article with you.


Regards – Sampathkumar S