Kapil Sibal, minister of communications and IT, launched the national internet registry (NIR) at Vigyan Bhawan on Thursday. The NIR has been launched under the national internet exchange (NIXI) and will facilitate allocating the IP addresses in India. It will be called ‘Indian registry for internet names and numbers’ (IRINN) in India.

NIXI was recognised by Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) in March 2012 to become NIR after it successfully demonstrated the indigenous software for allocation and management of resources. 

Sibal said that the launch of NIR was an important event, and the impact of which will not be felt today, but in years to come. “This will help the 1.2 billion people and their devices which they will use to connect to the internet,” he said. 

He said that initially it was thought to launch an entity, on the lines of NIR, within the ministry of communications and IT but then it was decided that it will be better to give it to a professional agency. “Internet service providers’ association of India (ISPAI) and NIXI evolved a transition which is smooth,” he said. 

Sibal said that in 2020, the consumer electronic market will become a $400 billion industry. In such a scenario, he said, it is very important to have an IP address allocator of our own to facilitate the devices and connections of people. He said that this is a platform for spreading use of internet among the “aam-aadmi”. “Inclusiveness of the portal is equally important,” he said.