Focus on India - Verisign

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http://www.verisign.com/static/043939.pdf

India, with more than 41 million Internet users, ranks as the eighth largest Internet
population in the world. Yet, with such a large population, this represents only about
four percent of the Indian population. The number of Internet users is growing rapidly,
25 percent in the last year alone.6 As the number of Internet users continues to grow
and Internet adoption increases, India is emerging as an increasingly important country
for domain names.
At the end of the fi rst quarter of 2008, there were 1.2 million domain name
registrations in India across all of the TLDs. This represents a 46 percent growth
over the previous year and a 12 percent growth over the previous quarter. Of these
registrations, approximately 685,000 are .com and .net domain name registrations
and 410,000 are .in domain name registrations.7
Internet users in India demonstrate a high awareness of both the .in and .com
extensions, which are almost universally recalled by the respondents. In addition, recall
for .net and .org are on the high side, with more than 80 percent of the respondents
aware of the extensions.8 While the users recognize the domain name extension, there
is less understanding of domain names themselves and the host of services that can be
associated with a domain name.

Medium and large businesses currently represent the vast majority of domain name
registrants in India. Among the current business registrants who responded to the survey,
approximately 74 percent reported that they selected a .com domain name. For these
business respondents, the average length of time since the registrant fi rst registered their
domain name is 5.5 years which seems to indicate that the more established businesses
registered their domain names very early on. Among individuals, there is extremely low
penetration of domain names. For example, less than one percent of heavy Internet users
in India surveyed have registered their own personalized domain name.
Among the current business registrants, the need to develop a Web site and email
services were the biggest drivers for registering a domain name. They were also driven
by an interest in facilitating communication with their business stakeholders, enhancing
their professional image and expanding their business. The businesses seemed to be
largely satisfi ed with their Web site in meeting these goals that they had set for it.
Refl ecting this high level of satisfaction, approximately 91 percent of the business
registrants were planning to renew their domain names with their current providers.
When businesses are selecting where to register their domain name, the two most often
cited factors included email services and a complete package to help the business get
online. Respondents also stated certain generic requirements including excellent customer
service and quick and easy set up as being important factors in the selection of their
domain name registrar. The CEO and the head of IT play the predominant roles in
the selection of the domain name itself and the registrar from which to register it.
The domain name registration opportunity in India is still largely untapped but the
interest, especially among businesses is strong. Approximately 82 percent of business
respondents without a domain name expressed interest in registering a domain name
in the future. These respondents believe that a Web site and a domain name would
lend credibility to their business and furthermore, that their customers are beginning
to expect it.