.in

.in
Introduced	1989
TLD type	Country code top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	INRegistry
Sponsor	National Internet Exchange of India
Intended use	Entities connected with  India
Actual use	Was traditionally not very popular as Indians preferred generic TLDs such as .com; liberalization of registration rules in 2005 led to a great increase in registrations, mostly domain hacks
Registration restrictions	No restrictions on who can register second-level domains or most third-level domains; restrictions under some specialized subdomains
Structure	May register at second level or at third level beneath generic-category 2nd level domains
Documents	Policies
Dispute policies	.IN Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (INDRP)
Website	registry.in
DNSSEC	yes

.in is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for India. The domain is operated by INRegistry under the authority of NIXI, the National Internet Exchange of India. INRegistry was appointed by the government of India.

As of 2005^[update], liberalised policies for the .in domain allow unlimited second-level registrations under .in. Unlimited registrations under the previously structured existing zones are also allowed:

• .in (available to anyone; used by companies, individuals, and organizations in India)
• .co.in (originally for banks, registered companies, and trademarks)
• .firm.in (originally for shops, partnerships, liaison offices, sole proprietorships)
• .net.in (originally for Internet service providers)
• .org.in (originally for non-profit organizations)
• .gen.in (originally for general/miscellaneous use)
• .ind.in (originally for individuals)

Six zones are reserved for use by qualified organizations in India:

• .ac.in (Academic institutions)
• .edu.in (Educational institutions)
• .res.in (Indian research institutes)
• .ernet.in (Older, for both educational and research institutes)
• .gov.in (Indian government)
• .mil.in (Indian military)

Before the more liberal policies for the .in domain, only 7000 names had been registered between 1992 and 2004. As of March 2010, the number had increased to over 6.1 lakh, with 60% of registrations coming from India, rest from overseas.^[1] This domain is popular for domain hacks.

The domain .nic.in is reserved for India's National Informatics Centre, but in practice most Indian government agencies have domains ending in .nic.in.

Internationalized domain names and country codes[link]

India plans to introduce internationalized domain names, that is domain names in 22 local languages used in India. They are planned to be introduced in mid-2012.^[2]

These internationalized domain names will be used together with seven new top domains for India.^[3]

These top domains are:

• .भारत (Devanagari)
• .ਭਾਰਤ (Gurmukhī)
• .ભારત (Gujarati)
• .இந்தியா (Tamil)
• .భారత్ (Telugu)
• .ভারত (Bengali)
• .بھارت (Urdu)

See also[link]

• Country code top-level domain
• Satyam Infoway Ltd. v. Sifynet Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

References[link]

1. ^ Chatterjee, Moumita Bakshi (March 13,2010). "‘.in' domain registration crosses six-lakh mark". The Hindu Business Line. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-info-tech/article986365.ece. Retrieved May 01, 2012. 
2. ^ India introduces domain names in all 22 national languages
3. ^ http://www.dncrunch.com/?p=9489

External links and references[link]

• IANA Whois information
• .in whois information from the .IN Registry: India's Official .IN Domain Name Registry
• Policies from the INRegistry website
• List of Accredited registrars for .in