HYDERABAD: Among all Top-level domains (TLDs), .com extension is still the most popular extension in India, as 55 per cent of domain names are on the extension.
A study by the management firm Zinnov on ‘State of the Domain Name Industry in India’ revealed that, Indi registered a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.9 per cent between June 2013 to 2016 in the domain name industry, while all over world the growth was 8.7 per cent.
With more people using smartphones and internet penetration rising, the number of domains have also been on rise. There are 4.9 million domains in India, Maharashtra, Delhi/NCR and Karnataka account for 38 per cent of them. However India’s share is very less when compared globally as there are 335 domain names globally.
“Domain name identifies an Internet Protocol (IP) address, while accessing search results, Uniform Resource Locator (URL) on the internet. Domain names are key to doing any activity on the internet including search, navigation and transaction. The clear leader in India is .com with over 55 per cent of bought domains and 53 per cent of websites being .com extensions. Also 79 per cent of Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) prefered .com over other TLDs,” said Pari Natarajan, CEO of Zinnov. As internet users are growing and technology enabled SMBs are increasing, domain name adoption over the last few years has increased.
Awareness is key
As awareness about various uses of domain names like using it for websites, professional e-mails, redirecting to social media pages and trade portals is increasing, domain name market is set to flourish further in the future, points out the study.
“A domain name will help SMBs or any institution or even individuals, to create their own professional identity and enhance their digital discoverability. As India continues to witness one of the fastest growth of impact of internet on GDP, such digital enablement will further drive the growth momentum of domain name industry. Transition from cash to digital economy will also boost domain name industry,” Natarajan said.
It was found that 40 per cent of the registered domain names in India were for website creation, while 10 to 12 per cent for professional emails and about 3 to 4 per cent were for creating mobile enabled websites.