With '$' taken, India looks for rupee symbol

In a world where the U.S. dollar, European euro, Japanese yen and British pound each have a symbol for their currency, the India rupee is trying to get in on the international monetary party.

The Indian government's search for the sign is an open competition that stipulates entries "should represent the historical and cultural ethos of India," according to a BBC News story.

If that's the requirement, then I'm hoping for a photo of Ghandi. If that doesn't work, then an "R" for rupee should do it.

Unfortunately, the deadline for contest entries was April 15, so we'll just have to wait and see which design wins, if any. Hopefully India won't go down the same route as Russia did in its unsuccessful search in the 1990s for a symbol to represent the ruble.

Designing an international currency symbol that will be a country's cultural icon and still represent its culture is a high demand. Historically, such symbols haven't been presented that way.