ICANN report examines India’s expanding digital infrastructure and regulatory framework

India’s internet ecosystem is expanding rapidly, with more than one billion broadband subscribers and growing investment in telecommunications, submarine cables and data centres. At the same time, India is introducing new rules covering data protection, online platforms, telecommunications and domain name registrations.

An ICANN country report published in September 2026 examines these developments and highlights those most relevant to the internet ecosystem and ICANN’s work.

Expanding internet infrastructure

India became the second country after China to pass one billion internet subscribers in June 2025. By December, the country had 1.24 billion wireless mobile subscribers and more than one billion broadband subscribers.

Infrastructure has expanded alongside this growth. India had around 309 Tbps of lit international submarine cable capacity at the end of 2025, up from around 193 Tbps a year earlier. Several new cable projects are also being developed, including systems backed by Reliance Jio, Google and Meta.

India is also expanding its network of DNS root server instances. More than 60 instances were operating across 16 cities by March 2026.

The report also highlights the continued development of the .in domain. The registry migration to Tucows Registry Services was completed in May 2025, involving 4.2 million domain records and around 9 million contact records. The migration was completed without interruption to DNS resolution.

New rules affect the internet sector

India’s regulatory framework is also developing across several areas.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 and its accompanying rules establish requirements for handling personal data, including registration data. The main obligations under the framework are scheduled to take effect from May 2027.

The Telecommunications Act 2023 has replaced several older laws and introduced a new framework for the sector. Under the Telecom Cyber Security Rules, telecommunications entities must report security incidents within six hours. The report notes an unresolved question over whether some DNS-related services could fall within the scope of telecommunications services, which could have implications for DNS operators.

India has also amended its Information Technology Rules. Changes adopted in October 2025 introduced additional requirements around government takedown orders. Amendments in February 2026 introduced requirements to label synthetically generated information and set shorter deadlines for removing certain types of content.

Other proposed legislation remains uncertain. The Digital Competition Bill has not been introduced, while the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill was withdrawn in 2024. Plans for a new Digital India Act to replace the Information Technology Act have also not resulted in a published draft.

Court ruling brings domain registration into focus

One of the developments most directly relevant to the domain name system is a December 2025 judgment by the Delhi High Court in Dabur India Limited v. Ashok Kumar & Ors.

The case involved more than 1,100 domains allegedly used to impersonate brands. The court directed registrars serving Indian users to introduce electronic know-your-customer verification and periodic re-verification.

The judgment also addressed privacy services. Registrants would need to undergo verification before using privacy protection, while verified registration information would have to be provided to courts, law enforcement agencies and legitimate rights holders following a formal request. The court set a 72-hour period for such disclosure.

The judgment is currently under appeal. The court also called for discussions between the relevant authorities on the possible introduction of uniform verification requirements for domain registrations offered to users in India.

Digital public infrastructure continues to grow

India’s wider digital infrastructure is also expanding. Aadhaar had issued more than 1.43 billion identities by September 2025, while the Unified Payments Interface processed a record 21.7 billion transactions in January 2026.

Other major initiatives include BharatNet, which had connected more than 214,000 villages through over 693,000 kilometres of optical fibre, as well as Bhashini and the Open Network for Digital Commerce.

India also maintains 15 internationalised country-code top-level domains covering all 22 scheduled Indian languages. The report notes that improving the adoption of DNSSEC remains an important area for the .in domain, as only around 10–14% of users were estimated to be resolving through DNSSEC-validating recursive resolvers.

India and the multistakeholder internet

The report also places these developments within India’s broader engagement with global internet governance.

India has reaffirmed its support for the multistakeholder model in international discussions, including the WSIS+20 process. The country also hosted ICANN85 in New Delhi in February 2026.

The report notes that India’s approach combines the development of new national rules with continued participation in international institutions and processes. ICANN says it will continue monitoring developments that affect the technical operation of the internet, its mission and the wider internet community.

Why does it matter?

India’s growing number of users and expanding infrastructure make changes to its internet rules relevant beyond the domestic market. Developments involving domain registration, personal data, telecommunications and DNS operations can affect registrars, registries, service providers and users.

The interaction between new national requirements and the existing technical infrastructure of the internet will therefore remain an important area for the wider internet community.