.in domain registration is open to anyone in the world. But since 1 August 2025, every registrant must complete identity verification — or risk losing the domain. First-year offers run ₹1–₹199, while renewals cost ₹700–₹1,096 plus 18% GST. This guide covers the real prices, the KYC process, and the registry rules that catch people out.
What Is a .in Domain (and Who Runs It)
.in is India’s country-code domain — the two-letter extension that marks a website as Indian the way .uk marks one as British. The .IN Registry operates it as a function of the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI). NIXI, in turn, works under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). You never deal with the registry directly. Instead, you register through one of its accredited registrars, and the registry keeps the master record.
The extension has grown into one of the internet’s largest. In July 2026, the government’s Digital India programme announced that .in had crossed 4 million registrations. That makes it the 9th largest country-code domain in the world, by the government’s count. Independent data backs that up: Verisign’s Domain Name Industry Brief lists .in among the top ten ccTLDs as of June 2026, in ninth place. Beyond the Latin script, NIXI also operates .भारत, which carries the same Indian identity in 22 scheduled languages.
Who Can Register a .in Domain
Anyone, anywhere. That is the short answer, and it surprises people. Unlike many country domains, .in requires no Indian citizenship, no local company, and no Indian address. The registry opened registrations to the whole world back in 2005, and that openness still stands.
The “foreigners banned” rumor
In July 2025, reports spread that India was about to restrict .in registrations to Indian nationals. The claim travelled fast through registrar newsletters and domain forums. NIXI shut it down within days. On 29 July 2025, the registry stated in a formal advisory that no direction restricting registrations to Indian nationals had ever been issued. In other words, the ban never existed. Foreign registrations continued without interruption, and they still do.
What foreign registrants must provide
However, openness does not mean zero paperwork. NIXI’s agreement with its registrars requires every registrant, Indian or foreign, to complete an electronic KYC check. Foreign registrants verify with a passport and sign a short declaration of a legitimate business or personal connection to India. For example, a company selling to Indian customers qualifies. So does an NRI running a personal site for family back home. We cover the full verification process, including the deadline, later in this guide.
.in Domain Price: What You’ll Actually Pay
The advertised price of a .in domain is rarely the price you keep paying. Registrars compete hard on the first year, then renew at several times that rate. Therefore the number worth comparing is the renewal price, not the promo.
First-year offers versus renewals
Promotional first-year pricing for .in runs anywhere from ₹1 to roughly ₹199 across Indian registrars. Renewals typically land between ₹700 and ₹1,100 a year. A ₹99 domain that renews at ₹899 costs you nine times the sticker price in year two, and every year after that.
| What you pay | Typical range |
|---|---|
| First year (promotional) | ₹1 – ₹199 |
| Renewal, every year after | ₹700 – ₹1,100 |
| Add 18% GST | On both figures |
| Restoring an expired domain | Often ₹2,000 or more |
The promo is not a trick in itself. It becomes one when the renewal rate is buried three clicks deep, or shown only after your card is on file. Before you register anywhere, find the renewal figure and write it down.
GST is added on top
Indian registrars charge 18% GST on domain and hosting services. Many display prices excluding tax, so a ₹899 renewal actually bills at ₹1,061. Consequently your real annual cost is roughly a fifth higher than the number on the pricing page. If you buy from a provider with no Indian entity, GST may still apply to you under reverse charge.
We register .in at $8.95 for the first year and renew at $10.95, shown side by side on our domains page, with INR available at checkout.
The KYC Rule: Verify Your Identity or Lose the Domain
Here is the part that catches people out. Registering a .in domain is no longer the end of the process. NIXI requires every registrant to complete electronic KYC verification, and an unverified domain gets suspended. Your site and email go dark until you fix it.
What Indian registrants submit
Indian residents verify through DigiLocker, the government’s digital document platform. Accepted documents include Aadhaar, PAN, passport, voter ID, or driving licence. Companies submit a certificate of incorporation, company PAN, or GST certificate, plus one ID for the authorised signatory.
Your WHOIS details must match those documents. A mismatch between the registrant name on the domain and the name on the ID triggers a correction request, or a suspension.
What foreign registrants submit
Foreign individuals verify with a passport, and may also supply a national ID or an embassy letter. Foreign companies add business registration papers. In addition, foreign registrants sign a short declaration of their business or personal connection to India.
One practical note: a few registrars have decided not to serve foreign .in registrants at all, purely as their own commercial choice. If you are registering from outside India, confirm your registrar accepts foreign registrants before you pay.
The deadline, and what happens if you miss it
Most registrars ask for KYC within 7 days of registration. However, the enforcement window varies by platform, and some allow considerably longer before suspending. Treat the deadline your own registrar states as the one that counts, and complete it the same week regardless.
Miss it, and the registry places the domain on SERVERHOLD. In plain terms the domain stops resolving. No website, no email, no redirect — the name is still yours, but it does nothing until verification clears. Renewals and contact changes can trigger the check again, which is another reason to keep your WHOIS accurate year-round.
How to Register a .in Domain, Step by Step
The process takes about ten minutes, plus the verification step afterwards. Most of it looks like registering any other domain. The difference is what happens after checkout, so plan for that from the start.
Step 1: Check the name is available
Search the exact name you want, and note the alternatives you would accept. Availability tools also show second-level options like .co.in and .org.in. Our guide to checking domain availability covers what to do when your first choice is gone.
Step 2: Choose an accredited registrar
Only NIXI-accredited registrars can sell .in names, and the registry publishes the full list of accredited registrars. Compare renewal prices rather than signup prices. Also confirm the registrar serves your registrant type, because a few will not process foreign registrants.
Step 3: Register with details that match your ID
Enter your name, address, email, and phone exactly as they appear on the document you will use for verification. A nickname, an initial, or an old address creates a mismatch later. Use a permanent email address too, since disposable providers are commonly rejected.
Step 4: Complete verification the same week
Your registrar emails a verification link, usually within minutes of checkout. Complete it immediately rather than filing it away. Verification is the most common reason a new .in domain stops working in its first month.
Step 5: Point the domain at your hosting
Finally, update the nameservers or DNS records so the domain reaches your site. Changes propagate within a few hours in most cases. If records are unfamiliar territory, our DNS records explainer walks through each type.
Rules That Can Cost You the Domain
.in carries a few obligations that .com does not. None of them are difficult. However, breaking one can cost you the name, so they are worth reading once.
Your registrant data must be real and visible
NIXI has required accurate WHOIS data since 2005, and it prohibits privacy and proxy registration services on .in domains. Your name, city, and state appear publicly. Where the registry finds false details or a proxy registration, it can suspend or delete the domain.
This catches out anyone used to free WHOIS privacy on .com. Plan around it: if publishing a home address concerns you, register with a business address instead.
No auctions, no speculative flipping
In May 2026 the registry issued an advisory on domain trading. It states that auctioning, bidding, and speculative sale of .in names are “strictly non-permissible” and count as a policy violation. The advisory covers facilitating auctions through third-party platforms as well.
This is less a new rule than renewed enforcement. NIXI’s first advisory against hoarding and auctioning .in names dates to February 2005, more than twenty years ago. In short, .in is meant to be registered and used, not stockpiled and resold.
What enforcement looks like
Suspension comes first, and the domain stops resolving. Deletion follows in serious cases. Because enforcement runs through the registry rather than your registrar, your hosting provider cannot appeal it for you. Keeping your details accurate and your verification current avoids the problem entirely.
.in vs .com: Which Should You Choose
Most people ask this question backwards. They compare the extensions in the abstract, when the answer depends entirely on who they are trying to reach.
When .in is the better choice
Choose .in when your customers are in India and your business is too. The extension signals local presence immediately, which matters for trust in a market where buyers check where a seller actually operates. Search engines also read a country-code domain as a geographic signal, so a .in site carries an inherent association with Indian searchers.
There is a practical argument as well. Short, memorable .in names are still available, while the equivalent .com was taken fifteen years ago. A clean two-word .in usually beats a hyphenated or misspelled .com.
When .com still wins
Pick .com if you sell internationally, or expect to. A country-code domain ties your brand to one market, and that association works against you when you expand. Investors and international partners also default to .com, fairly or not.
However, this is not strictly an either-or decision. Many Indian businesses register both, run the .com as the primary site, and redirect the .in to it. That costs a few hundred rupees a year and protects the name from someone else.
.co.in, .net.in, and the Other .in Options
The registry offers more than the plain .in. Second and third-level options include .co.in, .net.in, .org.in, .firm.in, .gen.in, and .ind.in, alongside newer additions like .ai.in and city extensions such as .delhi.in.
What each one signals
.co.in reads as commercial and is the common fallback when the .in is taken. .org.in suits nonprofits and associations. .net.in fits infrastructure and network services, while .ind.in and .gen.in serve individuals and general use. These are conventions rather than enforced restrictions, since the registry does not vet whether your organisation matches the extension.
Are they worth it?
A third-level domain is generally cheaper than the plain .in, which appeals when budget is tight. Nevertheless, weigh that saving against how the address looks on a business card and how easily someone types it from memory. Longer addresses invite typos.
The same KYC and WHOIS rules apply across all of them. Registering .co.in instead of .in changes nothing about verification.
Transfers, Renewals, and Expiry
A .in domain needs three things to stay yours: an accurate registrant record, a completed verification, and a renewal payment before the expiry date. Miss any one and the domain stops working.
Moving to another registrar
Transfers work much as they do for other extensions. You unlock the domain, request an authorisation code from your current registrar, and submit it to the new one. Registrars typically block transfers during the first 60 days after registration, so plan around that window. Our domain transfer guide covers the full sequence and the common failure points.
One .in-specific detail: after a transfer, confirm your verification status carried over. Contact changes can trigger a fresh check, and a transfer often involves a contact change.
Renewals and the verification check
Renewal itself is straightforward. If your registrant details have not changed and your earlier verification was accepted, you generally will not resubmit documents. That said, the registry can request verification again at any point, and renewals are one of the moments where it happens.
What happens when it expires
An expired .in follows the familiar path. The domain stops resolving, enters a grace period where you can still renew at the normal price, then moves to redemption where restoring it costs considerably more. After that it is deleted and anyone can register it.
Set auto-renew and keep a working card on file. Our guide on domain expiration explains each stage and how long you realistically have to act.
Final Thoughts
A .in domain is one of the easier country extensions to own, provided you handle two things properly. Verify your identity when your registrar asks, and compare renewal prices rather than first-year offers. Everything else is ordinary domain management.
The rules that trip people up are not obscure. Keep your registrant details accurate and matching your ID, skip the privacy service you might use on a .com, and treat the name as something to use rather than trade. Do that, and the domain simply works.
Once the name is yours, the next steps are the usual ones: point it at hosting, add an SSL certificate, and set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC so your email reaches inboxes rather than spam folders.
You can check availability and see our registration and renewal prices side by side on our domains page.
FAQs
Yes. NIXI confirmed in a July 2025 advisory that registrations have never been restricted to Indian nationals. Foreign registrants complete the same verification as everyone else, using a passport plus a signed declaration of their business or personal connection to India. A few registrars have independently chosen not to serve foreign customers, so confirm before you pay.
The registry places the domain on SERVERHOLD. It stops resolving entirely, which means no website, no email, and no redirects. The name remains registered to you, but it does nothing until verification clears. Complete the check within the window your registrar states, commonly seven days from registration.
First-year promotional pricing runs from roughly ₹1 to ₹199 across Indian registrars. Renewals typically fall between ₹700 and ₹1,100 a year, plus 18% GST. Because the gap between the two is large, the renewal figure is the number worth comparing before you register anywhere. Our guide to website cost in India shows where the domain sits in the full yearly bill.
A country-code domain gives search engines a clear geographic signal, which helps for searches within India. It is a modest advantage rather than a decisive one, since content quality, site speed, and links matter far more. The bigger benefit is usually trust: Indian buyers recognise .in as a local business.
No. NIXI prohibits privacy and proxy registration services across .in domains, and your name, city, and state appear in public WHOIS records. Where the registry detects a proxy registration, it can suspend or delete the domain. If publishing a personal address concerns you, register using a business address.
Not through auctions or speculative trading. A May 2026 registry advisory states that auctioning, bidding, and speculative sale of .in names are not permissible, and NIXI has advised against hoarding .in domains since 2005. Legitimate business transfers, such as a domain moving with a company acquisition, are a different matter from flipping names for profit.