NIXI (India) has announced free domain extensions in local languages

http://www.newsonair.com/News?title...t Exchange of,domain booked by the registrant

"The National Internet Exchange of India, NIXI has announced that it will offer a free Internationalized Domain Name, IDN in any of the preferred 22 official Indian language along with every IN domain booked by the registrant. Applicant will also get a free email in local language. This offer has been created to stimulate the adoption of भारत IDN domain name and proliferation of local language content."

 

something like Chinese domain?

 

Yep but like only in regional languages within India. (IDN extensions). kinda like they're giving it away for free along with .in sales.

 

This may increase the value of .in domains

 

As long as renewals are also free (included), I don't see any downsides. I wonder if they will be tied to the "original" .in domain or could be for example transferred to another entity. Probably they will be only free for the first year and act like a separate domain, so it's just a stunt like Network Solutions adding a free .xyz to my .com for whatever reason.

BTW it seems the offer ended a month ago. Anyone has some stats to show how many IDN domains were registered during the promo?

 

That can be a good move, looking at the percentage of internet users are growing fast in India....