What’s the keyword? RealNames aims to give businesses edge on the Web

Our eFE Bureau in New Delhi

Delhi-based Net4India, a category “A” ISP, has earmarked Rs 40 crore both for developing a market for “keywords” technology in India as well as for scaling up its existing datacenters.

RealNames Corporation, an extending names services company, has announced that Net4India has become the sole keyword registry for RealNames in India.

Keywords, a naming technology, replaces unique resource locators (URL) with simple names and brands and work in the consumer’s native language. So when a keyword is entered, it takes the user directly to the web page within a site.

“We are the only company with exclusive rights to spread the keywords technology in India and over the next 12 months we will invest Rs 40 crore in building up a market for keywords in India as well as for scaling up our datacenters,” Net4India CEO Jasjit Sawhney said.

Net4India, currently has data centers in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune.

The company will appoint registrars who will in turn sell keywords to large corporates, media and advertising companies, large portals, ISPs, etc.

In the next 2 months, the ISP intends to appoint about 7 registrars in the country for selling keywords technology to the potential customers.

The company (Net4India) is expecting to earn revenues of Rs 30 crore in the fiscal ending March 2002 and further expects its keywords business to contribute almost Rs 25 to 40 crore over the next two years.

Net4India has been an active registrar since April this year, and with the new status as a keyword registry, the company will be responsible for mass adoption of this naming system in the country.
Some keyword owners in India include Maruti Udyog, Polaris, Wipro, Infosys, Home Trade, Sita Travels, Dr Reddy Labs and Indian Army, Mr Sawhney said.

“The system allows customer to log on to Net4Domains and search for the keyword that he wants to book. All keywords fall under two categories, basic keywords and keyword plus,” Mr Sawhney said.
A keyword for a low end customer will cost about Rs 2500 per month, while keyword for a high-end customer like large corporates will cost about Rs 25,000.