With the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) opening up domain name registration, as many as 50 Indian companies could be among the first ones to apply for Web sites ending in their own brands names, according to experts.

The key drivers for the adoption are higher visibility for their brands and better implementation of security.

“We have already received interests from 6-7 large companies in India. I expect that in the long-term as many as 50 corporates and institutions will get their own domain names,” said Mr Jasjit Sawhney, Chairman, Net4India. He refused to divulge the names of the companies due to non-disclosure agreements.

‘Good move'

“This is a good move by ICANN as it will allow even communities and cities to get their own domain names. For example, Delhi Government could register . (dot) delhi domain for itself. This is going to open up the Internet both from the user point of view as well as for businesses,” he added.

Net4India is one of the companies which registers domain names in India. The company is looking to have its own domain names with the latest ICANN move.

According to market watchers, banks and financial service providers could gain the most from having Web sites with own names as it will reduce the possibility of phishing or frauds. For example, if State Bank of India were to buy .sbi domain name then it would be difficult for fraudster to create mirror Web sites.

While this is good news for big brands, smaller companies may not be able to afford it. It will cost a company about Rs 80 lakh just to apply for the domain names and then there are cost linked to managing and maintaining it. Generic domain names such as .web may cost even higher. “Generic domain names will be huge business for us at it is likely to have multiple buyers. Such names will be auctioned,” Mr Sawhney said.

Cyber squatting

Some industry watchers have raised concerns about the possibility of increasing incidents of cyber squatting but ICANN has built in enough deterrents into the guidelines. “The guideline makes it very severe on cyber squatters. If anyone sits on a well known brand name then he may not only have to pay penalty but also pay costs of the litigation to the company which actually owns the brand,” said Mr Amitabh Singhal, Director, Telxess Consulting.

According to Mr Singhal, the new regime could put pressure on Internet search engines such as Google and Bing. “Till now, the Internet knew only about 21 generic domain names like.com and .org. But now there will be a plethora of domain names in multiple languages. Search engines will have to start indexing these new domains,” Mr Singhal said.

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