The NIXI Registry, which manages India's ccTLD .IN, has announced unusual and severe restrictions on bulk domain name registrations. Effective this year, individual registrants wishing to register more than two .IN domain names, and companies that want to book over 100 domains, need to obtain formal written permission including a signature from the head of NIXI, Anil Kumar Jain.
Its registrars around the world face losing their accreditation and will never be able to work with the Indian country code domain again if they violate this new regulation; and domain names registered contrary to the rules will be blocked. To put it mildly, it is difficult to figure out the logic behind this decision. Domain Incite, which reported the news, contacted NIXI for clarification. In a response email, the registry head said NIXI was not in any way stopping any domain registration in .IN. Mr. Jain cited national security concerns by way of explanation, without clarifying how registering three or four domain names by one person could threaten India’s security. The registry also clarified that all requests for registrations in excess of the new limits will be considered within 24 hours, regardless of weekends or holidays.
According to Domain Incite, NIXI’s new requirements caused much confusion among registrars. Some of them describe the new restrictions as “crazy,” “vague,” and “difficult to enforce.” There are about 2.2 million registered .IN domain names; the back-end provider of the domain zone is GoDaddy.
