Keyboards with rupee symbol to be rolled out

Come January 2012 and the symbol of the Indian rupee will appear on computer keyboards in the same row where the numerals and symbols of other currencies, say dollar, exist.

"The symbol is being approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and will be on the keyboards by January next year,” said N Ravi Shanker, additional secretary, department of information technology.

This would present a huge opportunity for the hardware players, especially with incremental sales coming from replacement of old keyboards.

“There is a big market for keyboard manufacturers as a direct result of the incorporation of the rupee symbol in keyboards.The significant strength exhibited by the Indian rupee in the recent months and continuous good performance of the Indian economy garner the need of the Indian rupee symbol in the keyboard,” said Anwar Shirpurwala, acting executive director, Manufacturer's Association of Information Technology (MAIT) .