.co.in Domain
India's Commercial Domain Extension
Register your .co.in domain from just £14.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included with every domain.
This domain has registration restrictions
Registration is open worldwide, but the .IN registry prohibits WHOIS privacy and proxy services outright and requires KYC verification of registrants. Read the full eligibility rules.
What is a .co.in domain?
The .co.in extension is the commercial subdomain of India's .in country code, managed by the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI). India has over 900 million internet users and counting, making it one of the fastest-growing digital markets on the planet. A .co.in domain gives businesses a clear commercial identity within the Indian namespace. No local presence is required, which makes it accessible for UK companies entering the Indian market. Two conditions do apply and neither is optional: WHOIS privacy and proxy services are prohibited outright, so your registrant details are public, and KYC is mandatory under the CERT-In directions.
Who should register .co.in?
Indian businesses, UK companies expanding into India, IT services firms, and e-commerce brands targeting Indian consumers.
Why choose .co.in?
- Clear commercial signal in India's namespace
- Targets 900+ million internet users
- No local presence required
- Strong growth in India's digital economy
Who runs .co.in, and since when
Registry data from the .co.in delegation record held by IANA, which maintains the internet's root zone. Eligibility comes from the registry's own policy, and the prices are ours.
- Extension type
- Country-code (ccTLD)
- Registered under the .in zone
- Registry operator
- National Internet Exchange of India
- The organisation that runs the extension
- .in delegated
- 1989
- The date belongs to the .in zone, not to .co.in itself
- Who can register
- Open to anyone worldwide, but WHOIS privacy is prohibited and KYC is mandatory
- Checked against the registry's own policy
- Our price
- £14.99 a year
- Ex VAT. Renews at the same price
The .co.in rule that rules out WHOIS privacy
India opened its namespace deliberately. The government policy framework that created the modern .IN registry, published on 28 October 2004, states that unlimited generic registration is open to the public at the second level, and that unlimited generic third-level registration is open too, naming co.in, net.in and org.in as the examples. The zones held back are gov.in, mil.in and the academic ones. There has never been a residency test on co.in.
What is unusual comes after you register. The .IN registry's terms for registrants say that any kind of proxy service is not allowed, and that if the data is wrong or masked by a proxy or privacy protection service, the registrant will not be recognised as the owner of the domain name. The contact email on the record has to be the registrant's own. On top of that, NIXI publishes KYC verification of registrants as mandatory, citing directions issued by CERT-In under section 70B of the Information Technology Act 2000.
So the extension is cheap and open, and privacy is the price. For a sole trader working from a spare room, that means a home address in a public record.
Who is allowed to register .co.in?
Registration is open worldwide, but the .IN registry prohibits WHOIS privacy and proxy services outright and requires KYC verification of registrants.
- Who may register
- The Government of India policy framework of 28 October 2004 opens second-level .IN and the popular third-level zones including co.in, net.in and org.in to the public, with no residency requirement. Only gov.in, mil.in and the academic zones are reserved.
- No privacy at all
- The terms and conditions for registrants state that any kind of proxy service is not allowed, and that where the data is wrong or masked by a proxy or privilege protection service, the registrant will not be recognised as the owner of the domain name. Your name and address go into a public record and stay there.
- KYC is required
- NIXI publishes KYC verification as mandatory for registrants, under directions issued by CERT-In using its powers in section 70B of the Information Technology Act 2000, and runs its own verification portal for it. Expect to prove who you are rather than simply pay.
- If the record is wrong
- Wilful or grossly negligent provision of inaccurate information, or failure to update it promptly, is stated to be a material breach and a basis for cancellation of the name. The registry may also suspend or cancel immediately for breach, and registrants must submit to mandatory INDRP arbitration where a complaint is filed against them.
Rules taken from the .IN terms and conditions for registrants. Registry policy can change, so check before you buy if the answer matters to you.
Not sure whether you qualify? Ask us before you order and we will check the registry rules with you. We would rather answer the question than take an order the registry will refuse.
Is .co.in the right choice for you?
We would rather sell you the right extension once than the wrong one twice.
.co.in works well if
- You have an Indian entity or Indian customers and want the commercial signal co.in carries in a market where it reads as established rather than new.
- You are hiring or contracting in India and want an address Indian recipients will not treat as an overseas cold approach.
- You are protecting a brand in a very large market cheaply. At this price a defensive registration is affordable even if it never carries a site.
Look elsewhere if
- You need your home address kept out of public records. Privacy and proxy services are prohibited outright, so a sole trader ends up publishing personal details.
- You want to register this afternoon and deal with paperwork later. KYC verification is mandatory, so allow time for it on a first Indian registration.
- Your market is British. An Indian extension does nothing in Google UK, and it adds an obligation for a market you are not selling into.
Not actually trading in India? Skip it. A .co.uk costs about the same and carries a signal you can use. See .co.uk pricing.
.co.in vs .com: which should you register?
In India a .com is normal and a co.in is local, and the two coexist far more comfortably than in most markets. Large Indian businesses commonly run both. The reason to prefer co.in is the geographic signal: Google reads .in and the zones beneath it as targeting India, which a .com cannot do.
The reason to prefer .com is privacy and simplicity. A .com can sit behind a privacy service and needs no identity verification. A co.in can have neither. For a UK sole trader that difference is not academic, because it is the difference between a company address in a public record and a home one. If you want the Indian signal without publishing personal details, register the co.in in a company name with a business address rather than in your own.
.co.in domain questions, answered
What people ask us before registering a .co.in domain.
Can't find what you're looking for?
Ask us directlyNo. The .IN policy framework opens second-level .IN and the popular third-level zones, co.in among them, to the public with no residency or incorporation requirement. A UK company or an individual anywhere can hold one. The reserved zones are gov.in for government, mil.in for defence and the academic zones, which are allocated by Indian institutions rather than sold. Everything else is first come, first served through a registrar.
No. The .IN terms for registrants prohibit proxy services of any kind, and state that if the data is masked by a proxy or privilege protection service, the registrant will not be recognised as the owner of the domain name. That is stricter than most extensions, where privacy is simply an add-on you can buy. It also means a sole trader registering a co.in publishes a real name and address, so registering in a company name with a business address is the usual way round it.
NIXI, the .IN registry, publishes KYC verification as mandatory for registrants, citing directions issued by CERT-In under section 70B of the Information Technology Act 2000, and it runs its own verification portal. In practice the details behind a registration have to be verifiable rather than merely supplied. Allow a little extra time on a first .in registration, and make sure the contact email on the record is one you monitor, because that is where the requests arrive.
Included with Your .co.in Domain
DNS Management
Full DNS zone editor to manage A, CNAME, MX, TXT, and all record types.
Email Forwarding
Set up professional email addresses and forward to any inbox.
Auto-Renewal
Never lose your domain with automatic renewal protection.
Free 10GB Mailbox
One 10GB mailbox (POP3/IMAP) included with every domain, on any TLD.
Other Geographic Domains Extensions
Register your .co.in domain today
Secure your .co.in domain from just £14.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included.
