No longer will international vendors and consumers alike need to distinguish Indian Currency with “INR.” or “Rs”. India’s Finance Ministry has reached a verdict on their national search for a currency symbol. The new symbol, which was submitted by D Udaya Kumar of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay,  resembles a capital “R” with two  horizontal strikes through the upper-half.

The Finance Ministry decided to put the decision into the hands of the common Indian with a nationwide contest that lasted almost a year. Over 4,000 entries were cut down to a short-list of 5, before the final selection was made.  According the designer, the two parallel lines capping the symbol represent the internal balance and equality of India’s economy as well as the economy’s standing among other countries of the world.

Kumar’s creation means more than a new design to grace everything from keyboards to vending machines. It represents the aspiration of India to be treated on par with the US, Europe and Japan (symbols such  $, €, and ¥ are globally recognized).

Surjit Bhalla, managing director of Oxus Research and Investments, told the Christian Science Monitor, “…In 1990 if India said we’ll have a rupee symbol, people would have laughed at it. Today, people are asking how important it is.”

Some people are . Other may laugh now. But they won’t be laughing ten years from now .

Recent volatility in currency exchange rates accompanied with spiraling debt crises in Europe are instigating some  fear and worry that a feeling of paranoia may overtake investors. Although the impact may be felt by some U.S.-based companies with outsource partners on the Indian subcontinent, those that spread costs throughout different exchanges such as Euros, British pounds and U.S. dollars may absorb any adverse activity.

Margins will be greatly affected in companies that do not deal with across-the-board costs based on diversified currencies. Accordingly, comments from executives of outsource companies such as WNS’s CEO, Keshav Murugesh, said he was worried Europe may follow what happened in the U.S. in 2009 where technology purchasing was dramatically delayed. He said people in the U.S. last year stopped making decisions about technology buying and he cautions WNS clients to make these decisions in 2010 to save money.

He told the Dow Jones in a recent interview that delaying technology spending has a far more severe impact on outsource companies like WNS. The company conducts back office operations in the financial and banking industry with approximately 60 percent of its business revenue coming from the UK.

Continued depreciation of the euro and sterling against the U.S. dollar has great impact on both UK- and US-based companies buying outsourced services from India. Obviously, ties to American firms help Indian companies prosper during this time where Europe is in financial upheaval.

Murugesh said WNS is seeking to add greater diversity to its client base through an actively aggressive foray into U.S. and India markets.  WNS is seeking to expand its operations to smaller, rural towns throughout India taking advantage of the absence of any wage arbitrage that will allow them to offset the typically low billing rates afforded by their competitors.