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The Minister for IT and Communications, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, with industry captains after presenting `.in' domain name registration certificates to leading companies in the Capital on Thursday. - - Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Jan. 6

PROUD to be Indian — this message resonated loud and clear today as India Inc including corporate heavyweights like Tatas and Bharti queued up to receive their new `.in' domain names - the official Internet domain name of India.

In an event marking the extension of .in country code Internet domain name registry, the Union Minister for Communications and IT, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, today presented certificates of `.in' registration to leading names from Indian industry and media.

The recipients included Mr Ratan Tata (Tata Group), Mr N. Ram (The Hindu), Mr Sunil Mittal (Airtel), Mr Aroon Purie (India Today Group), Mr K. M. Mammen (MRF), Mr Prannoy Roy (NDTV), Mr Vineet Jain (Times Group), Mr Vijay Mallya (UB Group), Mr Gopal Srinivasan (TVS), Mr Ajai Chaudhary (HCL), and Mr Deepak Puri (Moser Baer).

With this, Tata Group's new Indian identity in cyberspace would be tata.in, tcs.in and vsnl.in, while in the case of Bharti it will be airtel.in. MRF has picked up mrf.in, while The Hindu Group has registered over 120 domain names for its various publications.

Commenting on the overwhelming response to the latest .in initiative, Mr Maran said, "Earlier five lakh Indian companies had registered and of them only 7,000 had online identities that ended with `.in'. But now ever since we opened the registrations from January 1, 2005, we have been getting an average of 7,000 applications per day."

In October last year, the Government announced a new policy for `.in' Internet domain name registration focusing on hassle-free online procedure and reduced pricing. The move would not only strengthen Indian identity in Internet space but would also to ensure a greater circulation of traffic within the country.

Once available only to a small group, `.in' domain name would now be available online for everyone who seek. The new era for .in begins with an initial sunrise period. Owners of registered Indian trademarks or service marks who wish to protect their online identity will be given an opportunity to apply for .in domain names ahead of the general public. Sunrise applications are being accepted from January 1 to 21. The date for the opening of real time, open registration for the public is planned for February 16.

The move to revamp the .in domain registry assumes significance as the number of `.in' domain names registered till last year did not truly represent the penetration of IT in India, which has established itself as a software services destination.

An overcautious registration policy and absence of infrastructure for registration have also hindered the growth of the domain. A proactive policy for .in domain proliferation can help establish it as a globally recognised symbol of India's growth in IT.

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