Online registration for .in domain names from Jan 1

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New Delhi: Internet domain names having .in can now be registered online from January 1, 2005, to generate greater traffic within the country. This initiative is expected to increase the speed of the Internet and reduce the tariffs for subscribers.

Announcing the new policy for the .in internet domain name, IT and communications minister Dayanidhi Maran said that from next year, companies can get .in domain name registered online.

The minimum fee charged by the .in registry will be Rs 250 and Rs 750 per year for registration at third and second levels, respectively.

The .in registry will offer a 90-day ’sunrise period’ to the registered trademark owners, registered companies and owners of intellectual property to secure registration of their domain names.

Also, the zones for government, military and educational institutions would be reserved exclusively by the respective organisations, he said, adding that registration for these will be offered by National Informatics Centre (NIC)—an organisation jointly nominated by the defence ministry and ERNET.

At present, there are 60 million domain names globally, out of which 40 million constitute the .com names and the remaining 20 million are country-specific. In India, however, the .in domain number is less than 7000, department of information technology (DIT) officials said.

Mr Maran also announced the setting up of a National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), formed by DIT in association with the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI).

He said, connecting all ISPs of the country to the National Internet Exchange is aimed for achieving efficient internet traffic routing and cost reduction, thereby improving the quality of service for the internet users in India.

NIXI aims to ensure that the internet traffic, which originates within India and also has destinations in India remains within the country (instead of going to the overseas server in the host country, mostly the US), resulting in improved traffic latency, reduced cost and better security. Four internet exchange nodes have been set up at Noida, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, Mr Maran said, adding that 34 internet service providers have already joined as members.

The government is also considering setting up second tier of NIXI hubs in a few provincial capitals in partnership with the state governments and ISPs as the stake holders.