India's application for country-name top-level domains faces obstacles, sparking controversy over new ICANN regulations.

India's National Internet Exchange (NIXI) recently announced plans to apply to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to launch the country-name top-level domains .india and .bharat. This move aims to strengthen India's national identity in the global internet landscape. However, this plan may face significant obstacles due to ICANN's current policies.

".bharat," derived from Sanskrit, is one of India's official names recognized by its constitution and carries a rich cultural and historical heritage. ".india," on the other hand, is an internationally recognized English abbreviation for the country's name. Both carry strong cultural and political symbolism.

However, NIXI's plan may face significant resistance. According to the current draft of the "New gTLD Applicant Handbook," Section 6.5.1 explicitly states that string applications for country or region names will not be approved. In other words, domain names directly corresponding to country names, such as ".india," are inherently excluded under the policy framework.

Country names fall under ICANN's definition of "highly sensitive geographic names," requiring additional review by the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). If the GAC deems a domain name likely to spark political or social controversy, ICANN has the power to reject it outright. Historically, similar applications (such as .catalonia and .kurdistan) have been rejected due to "political sensitivity." Although NIXI emphasizes its position on behalf of the Indian government, ICANN, citing its neutrality, will likely not make an exception.

India already has a country code top-level domain (.in) and has launched its internationalized domain name (IDN) version, .भारत (written in Sanskrit as .bharat). If ICANN ultimately rejects the application, NIXI may achieve some of its goals by promoting existing IDNs. However, this move is unlikely to completely replace the global influence of .india and .bharat as generic top-level domains.