STATE OF DOMAINNAMEINDUSTRY IN INDIA2018

This is based on data for 2017.

Domain Name Industry forms one of the most integral elements of the growing Internet ecosystem in the country.

This report covers all the key aspects of Domain Name Industry in India and its evolution in the last 18 months

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Key Industry Drivers

Domain NameMarket Size & Growth

Domain NameSolutions & Growth

RegionalTrends

SMBPreferences

A sequel to our 2016 study on State of the Domain Name Industry in India

Scope of Research

Key Industry Players

A healthy mix of Expert Discussions & Detailed Research has been done to decode the Domain Name Industry in India

Research Methodology

Scanned 1.98 Mn domain names1 to check usage by products, penetration by states, etc.

Secondary research on ICANN, Company Websites (Registry & Registrars), RegistryOwl, InternetliveStats, nTLDstats, and so on

In depth discussions with 10+ industry experts

Detailed interactions with 200 SMBs across major metro cities

Note: 1. Considered domain names that were created and were active as of 31st Dec 2017 3

Internet continues to transform the Business and Consumer landscape, backed by a robust Domain Name System

Apranet1969

FTP & TCP/IP1973

Ethernet1976

Internet1982

Inception

Shift from basic machine-to- machine interactions to network of networks, also called as Internet

Exploration Evolution (Phase 1) Evolution (Phase 2)Social MediaThriving App EconomyDomain name entering intocountry-specific languagesGlobal Internet Users: 4.0 Bn (2018)

Inception & privatization of Domain Name Industry

Global Internet Users: 0.01 Bn (1993)

Online shopping introducedDemocratization of searchGlobal Internet Users: 0.8 Bn (2003)

Domain Name System originates1983

Amazon.com1994

Yahoo, eBay1995

Google1998

Domain Providers (Registry) & Domain Seller (Registrars) businesses separated1999

Facebook, YouTube, Uber, WhatsApp, Chrome2004-09First four IDN ccTLDs2 implemented Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, & Russia2010

4.01 Bn Global Internet Users, up 7% YoY3.2 Bn Active Social Media Users, up 13% YoY5.1 Bn mobile phone users, up 4% YoY1.77 Bn people bought consumer goods via eCommerce2018

1500+ valid TLDs Over 3.5 Mn apps on PlayStore 2017

Skype, WordPress2003

Firstever.com registration. First registered CcTLD1 - .us, .uk,.iL1985

WWW1990

Domain Name System privatized1993

4Sources: Secondary Research, Zinnov AnalysisNotes: 1. Refers to country-level top-level domain such as .in, .us, .uk, etc. 2. IDN ccTLD refer to country-level domain extension in non-latin languages

Growing Internet Penetration to Power the Technological Revolution in India

Source: Secondary Research, Zinnov Analysis 5

Infrastructure Enablers Domain Name Consumers

Average data consumption @3.5 GB per user per month, growing by 500%, whereas prices dropped by ~97%

Exponential Growth in DataConsumption

Rapid Growth of Internet Users (15% CAGR)

2017 2020(E)

481 Mn

730 Mn

Smartphone Users growth@ 23% CAGR

350 Mn

650 Mn

2017

2020(E)

Digital Spend

USD 19 Bn by the Indian government Development of 100 smart cities

Broadband Access to 200 Mn rural Indians in 0.25 Mn villages 0.5 Mn WiFi hotspots providing broadband access to 50 Mn citizens in rural India Free WiFi hotspots at over 250 railway stations in India

Over 170,000 Common service centers operational across India, helping drive Internet usage

~150,000 Km Optic fibre laid

Rising # of Start-upsIndia is the 3rd largest start-up nation with 5000+ technology product start-ups, growing at 7% YoY

Rising Online CommerceAmazon, an eCommerce marketplace, has over 0.3 Mn sellers in India, adding 0.1 Mn sellers in less than a year

Zomato, an online restaurant discovery and food ordering platform, has a partner network of more than 25,000 restaurants

SMBs have over 2Mn pages on Facebook in India

Nearly 21 Mn listings on Justdial, an online search directory. Over 2.8 Mn manufacturers and exporters are listed on TradeIndia, a B2B search directory

Government Initiatives

Flagship programmes being run by the government to hasten the adoption of digital services

Internet Users

Increasing Internet users and ease of access, resulting in higher demand and utilization of digital services

Internet has created a new economy; several businesses are going online to acquire customers and retain them

Growing Online Commerce

Expanding tech start-up ecosystem and 50 Mn+ SMBs would form the key base driving digitalization of services

Booming Tech Start-ups & SMB Ecosystem

Spend on DigitalSurge in SMBs

2015 2017

~51 Mn

~55 Mn

Tech-influenced SMBs to grow from 55% in 2017 to

90% in 2020

Domain name count in India continues to witness a stronger growth as compared to global markets

Domain Name Count – Global & India

Dec 31, 2016 Dec 31, 2017

Sources: Verisign DNIB Q4’2017, Verisign DNIB Q4’2016, ICANN Dec 2017 Report (result published in Apr 2018), Primary Research, Zinnov Analysis

GLOBAL329.3 Mn

332.4 Mn

INDIA4.95 Mn

5.3 Mn

0.9 %

7.1 %

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w w ww w w

w w ww w w

.Com had ~57% share of the Indian Domain Name industry in 2017

Sources: Verisign DNIB Q4’2017, Verisign DNIB Q4’2016, ICANN Dec 2017 Report (result published in Apr 2018), Primary Research, Zinnov AnalysisNotes: 1. Others for Global include CcTLDs and other TLDs such as edu, nic, us, live, etc. 2. Others for India include TLDs such as edu, nic, us, live, etc.

New TLDsOthers

Grand Total

TLD Registry Global (Mn) India (Mn)

131.914.1510.36.40.52.02.10.223.9140.51

332.4

3.020.240.180.060.041.400.030.010.170.142

5.30

Verisign

PIR

Afilias

Nixi

Neustar

DotAsia

.com

.net

.org

.info

.mobi

.in

.biz

.asia

Despite India being one of the fastest growing digital economies, it accounted for 1.6% of the global domain name registrations in 2017

59% of the SMBs bought their domain names directly from Registrars (GoDaddy, BigRock, etc.)

48% of the domain names were used for Websites in India last year

Domain Name Count by TLDs Global & India (as of Dec 31, 2017)

Domain Name Split by TLDsIndia (as of Dec 31, 2017)

.asia.biz.mobi.infoOthers.org.net.in.com

56.9%

26.4% 4.5% 3.5% 3.1% 2.7% 1.2% 0.8% 0.6% 0.2%

New TLDs

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Sources: IAMAI Report (India), Internetlivestats (Global), Registrarowl (Global), Zinnov Analysis

Country

India

US

France

Australia

UK

Japan

China

Russia

DPR (%) -2016

1.1%

43.6%

-

-

5.0%

4.3%

3.6%

1%

DPR (%) -2017

1.12%

38.3%

6.5%

6.3%

5.0%

4.5%

3.3%

0.7%

Domain Count (Mn) 2017

5.3

109.9

3.7

1.4

3.1

5.4

25.6

0.8

Internet Users (Mn) 2017

481

287

56

22

62

119

772

110

DPR in India improved marginally from 1.1% in 2016 to 1.12% in 2017; it still remains minuscule as compared to the US

US continues to lead in terms of DPR amongst other key global economies

Domain Penetration ratioDomain penetration ratio (DPR) is defined as no. of domain registered per internet user

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India suffers from low domain penetration but offers huge potential

Domain name growth has been the highest in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat

Sources: Data.Gov.in (Ministry of Communications and Information Technology), Zinnov Analysis; Note: Percentage represents the service distribution of the overall domain name market on the basis of analysis of 1.98 Mn domain names in India in 2017

Share of Domain Names by Region (as of Dec 31, 2017)

Share of Domain Names by Key States(as of Dec 31, 2017)

32%

30% 7%

31%

North

WestEast

South

Legend : NORTH SOUTH WEST EAST

Num

ber o

f Int

erne

t Sub

scrib

ers p

er 10

0 po

pula

tion

(201

6-17

)

State-wise Domain Name Share (2017)

UP

WB

ODISHA

DELHI

HP PUNJAB KERALA

GUJARAT

KARNATAKA

TN

HARYANA

RAJASTHANBIHAR

MAHARASHTRA

0

120

105

90

75

60

45

30

15

0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% 10.0% 12.0% 14.0% 16.0% 18.0% 20.0% 22.0%

9

ASSAM

J&K

MP

AP

Majority usage of domain names is limited to Websites and Professional Emails

Source: Zinnov Analysis; Notes: 1. 2016 denote 30 June’16 whereas 2017 denote 31 Dec’17; 2. About 25% of domains could not be resolved or incurred some errors such as server error or website coding error. ; Percentage represents the service distribution of the overall domain name market on the basis of analysis of 1.98 Mn domain names in India in 2017 and 1.56 Mn domain names in 2016

Domain Name Universe in India - Split by Key Attached Services1,2 (2016 vs. 2017)

Parked forMonetization

ProfessionalEmails For Sale Redirect to Social

Media PageRedirect to Trade Portals /

e-CommerceMobile-enabled

Website

40%48%

25-30%

10-12%9-11%

Leading Professional

Email services

Redirect toleading Social

Media Platforms

Redirect toleading Trade

Portals

3-4%

8-10%

1-2% <1% <1% <1% <1% <1%

11-13%

Website

20172016

10

Top 10 states in India accounted for over 80% of domain names used for Websites

Sources: Secondary Research, Zinnov Analysis ; Notes: 1. 2016 denote Jun 30, 2016 whereas 2017 denote Dec 31, 2017; 2. Only 30% of total websites are currently using any CMS applications,Considered Website hosted on a TLD.

Distribution of Domain Names used for Websites by State Share (as of Dec 31, 2017)

Website Distribution by TLDs – 2016 vs. 2017 1

Website Distribution by Content Management System 2016 vs 2017 1,2

20172016

20172016

53%54%

85-90% 90-93%

5-6% 1-2% 3-5% 3-4% 1-3% 1-2%1-3%

39%

.com .net .org Others

OthersDrupalJoomlaGoDaddy WebsiteBuilder

WordPress

.in

36%

3% 4% 3% 2%4% 4%

<1%

.com continues to be the most preferred domain for websites

WordPress continues to gain further prominence in 2017 over other CMS solutions

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Legend:>10%5-9.9%1-4.9%<1%

Bought a specific domain name on the basis of their ‘Company Name’

Bought their domain names directly from Registrars (GoDaddy, BigRock, etc.)

Searched for a .com domain name first, giving it a preference over other available Top-level Domains (TLDs)

Were able to find their primary choice of Top-level Domain (TLD)

Cost not a concern for buying a domain name

Used digital payment methods (Debit/ Credit Cards/ Netbanking) to purchase the domain names

Have additional free pages on Social Media for business use specially

.com continues to be the most preferred top-level domain within SMBs in India, followed closely by .in domain

Sources: Insights from 200 Pan-India SMB surveys, Zinnov Analysis 12

Key Takeaways(SMB Survey)

75%59%

73%

77%

80%

85%53%

Domain name awareness is high within the SMB segment in India

Sources: Insights from 200 Pan-India SMB surveys, Zinnov Analysis

Domain Name Awareness Level

Domain Name Registration Process

4 in 5SMBs are aware/have heard about domain

names and their usage

15% through IT Service Providers

14% through Website Developers

12% Others (like assistance from a friend)

59% bought directly from Registrars (GoDaddy, Big Rock, etc.)

Reasons for choosing a Domain Name

Most recognized/trusted domain

Global Standard

44%

Top-rated TLDsacross parameters

.com .in

.in

.in

.in

.com

.com

.com

23%

17%

11%

5%

Portrayed professional image

Economical

Relevant Locally

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Conclusion: Domain Name Industry in India witnessed a moderate growth in 2017

Source: Zinnov Analysis; Notes: 1. Zone data as of Dec 31 2017

332.4 Mn Total domain name count globally1, witnessing a growth of 0.9% YoY

5.3 Mn Total domain name count in India1, witnessing a growth of 7.1% YoY

57% Market share of .com1, making it the most preferred TLD in India

73% SMBs preferred .com over other TLDs owing to Trust, Global Standards, and Professional Image

48% Of domain names1 bought used for websites

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