Technology for MSMEs: The government is looking to incentivise MSMEs to get their websites and emails registered with the Indian internet domain .in instead of larger and more popular domains such as .com and others. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is soon expected to offer .in domain free of cost for the first year and customized e-mail with 10GB storage space to MSMEs who get registered on a daily basis. However, MSMEs will have to pay a renewal fee of Rs 325 per year after the first year per domain to avail the .in domain and e-mail facilities.
“For example, Aditya & Co. can get a domain Aditya.in and an email info@aditya.in on a first come first serve basis,” the ministry said in a letter. “Ownership of adoption of .in internet domain is aimed for building internet infrastructure and related services within the country for non-stop availability of internet services, at any stage, in any situation,” it said.
The ministry noted that the increasing use of the internet has led to a significant increase in websites and web-related services. “However, it has been observed that not all such websites and web-related services are implemented on the .in domain, a domain name space that signifies the Indian identity for these websites and web services,” the letter read.
The plan, to be implemented by the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) under MeitY, was proposed in the letter in November last year and is likely to be launched this month. “The plan has been finalised and will be launched this month itself. It will be much cheaper than other domains like .com which will cost around Rs 700 per year,” a person aware of the initiative told FE Aspire on anonymity.
An email seeking comments from NIXI didn’t elicit a response by the time of publishing this article.
Also read: How AI adoption can help MSMEs close the digital transformation gap
A .in domain could be a better option for businesses targeting Indian users and customers instead of a generic .com domain that can be used for any website reaching out to people globally. “Ownership of .in domain ensures MSMEs to reach out to the desired market digitally and expand footprint in their existing market. Also, the digital adoption by MSMEs is expected to revive the sector,” the letter noted.
According to a recent study Worldwide Small and Medium-Sized Business and Digital-Native Business 2023 Predictions by the global market intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC), the total budgets dedicated to IT investments and connectivity services at Indian SMBs will increase by 20 per cent by 2027 as they turn to technology to compete with larger businesses.