.in is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for India. The domain is operated by INRegistry under the authority of NIXI, the National Internet Exchange of India. INRegistry was appointed by the government of India.
As of 2005, liberalised policies for the .in domain allow unlimited second-level registrations under .in. Unlimited registrations under the previously structured existing zones are also allowed:
.in (available to anyone; used by companies, individuals, and organizations in India)
.co.in (originally for banks, registered companies, and trademarks)
.firm.in (originally for shops, partnerships, liaison offices, sole proprietorships)
.net.in (originally for Internet service providers)
.org.in (originally for non-profit organizations)
.gen.in (originally for general/miscellaneous use)
.ind.in (originally for individuals)
Six zones are reserved for use by qualified organizations in India:
.ac.in (Academic institutions)
.edu.in (Educational institutions)
.res.in (Indian research institutes)
.ernet.in (Older, for both educational and research institutes)
.gov.in (Indian government)
.mil.in (Indian military)
Before the introduction of liberalised registration policies for the .in domain, only 7000 names had been registered between 1992 and 2004. As of March 2010, the number had increased to over 610,000 domain names, with 60% of registrations coming from India, rest from overseas.[1] By October 2011, the number had surpassed 1 million domain names.[2] This domain is popular for domain hacks.
The domain .nic.in is reserved for India's National Informatics Centre, but in practice most Indian government agencies have domains ending in .nic.in.
