New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) The union cabinet Thursday approved the new symbol for the Indian rupee – an amalgam of the Devnagiri ‘Ra’ and the Roman capital ‘R’ without the stem.

The symbol, designed by an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) postgraduate D. Udaya Kumar, was selected from among five shortlisted symbols before the cabinet, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said after the cabinet meeting.

‘It is just a symbol,’ she told reporters.