.CA vs .IN

[DomainLobe]

I have been watching both .IN and .CA over the past few years with interest.
Both NNN and LLL have all been registered in both extensions for several months.
The 'domainers value' of both have risen well above cost but it seems that .CA has appreciated to a greater extent at this time.

Canada Stats
Population=33,390,141
Internet Usage=22,000,000
%Penetration=65.9%
Use Growth (2000-2007)=73.2%
GDP Growth(2007)=2.6%

India Stats
Population=1,129,866,154
Internet Usage=60,000,000
%Penetration=5.3%
Use Growth(2000-2007)=1,100%
GDP Growth (2007)=9.4%

Any thoughts?
Do the fundamentals support this discrepancy?
Which one is the best investment at this time - is .IN undervalued, does .CA have better growth potential?

[Irish31]

growth potential goes to .CA in my opinion. For the population of India, , I would expect that ccTLD to have picked up more steam, i'm not sure all the factors that play into that though.

I want to keep any Canadian bias out : )

[DomainMagnate]

.in's are still cheap from what I've seen, which can actually be a sign to invest in them. But so far I'm for .ca

[Jagusa]

Canada GDP Per Capita (PPP): $35,600 (2006 Est.)
India GDP Per Capita (PPP): $3,800 (2006 Est.)

Both have many pros and cons. Canada is wealthy and stable, but there are restrictions on ownership. India appears poised for significant growth, but, with respect to domaining, is a much riskier venture.

[DomainMagnate]

how about actually comparing the number of registered .in and .ca domains

February 12, 2008 (a month ago): The .IN registry has reached 400,000 registrations.
2008-03-16 (today): .ca 985,474


also .ca registry opened in 2000
.in opened in 2005

[hugegrowth]

I think .in has more potential due to population size, future growth and the extension is open to all (more players in the game).

But I also like .ca because it's my 'local' market.

[DNP]

.in for sure

[ktechsite]

how about actually comparing the number of registered .in and .ca domains

February 12, 2008 (a month ago): The .IN registry has reached 400,000 registrations.
2008-03-16 (today): .ca 985,474


also .ca registry opened in 2000
.in opened in 2005

and .co.in was first introduced after that .in came so might need to consider that also.

I think .in would be the next big thing. I know you would say it ia bold statement but living in India and seeing how fast the internet is growing more and more people willing to spend money for sites and using internet.

I really think in the next few yrs it would be rocking

[DomainLobe]

Canada GDP Per Capita (PPP): $35,600 (2006 Est.)
India GDP Per Capita (PPP): $3,800 (2006 Est.)

how about actually comparing the number of registered .in and .ca domains

February 12, 2008 (a month ago): The .IN registry has reached 400,000 registrations.
2008-03-16 (today): .ca 985,474
also .ca registry opened in 2000
.in opened in 2005

Thanks John and Michael for adding to the stats.
Canada is certainly a mature domain market being 5 years older than the open registration of .IN and .Co.IN and I suspect this has a lot to do with the establishment of higher value for fixed and measurable 'commodities' such as LLL and NNN.

Thanks to all for contributing to this discussion - meaningful to me at least having invested in both cctlds.

[ArjunDhawan]

and .co.in was first introduced after that .in came so might need to consider that also.

I think .in would be the next big thing. I know you would say it ia bold statement but living in India and seeing how fast the internet is growing more and more people willing to spend money for sites and using internet.

I really think in the next few yrs it would be rocking

I'm with you, Govind

I also live that dream, and I am sure, its only a matter of time when .IN sales will leave everyone stunned.

[whitebark]

In 2006, spending on online advertising in Canada topped C$1 billion...

But most importantly by 2011, Canadian online spending will more than double, reaching C$37.2 billion.

"56% of Internet users in Canada buy online, according to eMarketer’s Canada Online report. Statistics Canada estimates that total e-commerce sales were C$39.2 billion (US$32.4 billion) in 2005, up 38.4% from 2004. The figures include both private and public sector sales over the Internet.

That was the fourth year in a row that the overall value of e-commerce sales in Canada increased by 38% or more. The increase in online sales was six times the rise in overall retail sales in Canada in 2005. Statistics Canada also found the percentage of Canadian retailers with a Web site grew to 42% in 2005, from 38% in 2004. (eMarketer, October 2006)"

I doubt the numbers are anywhere close in India and probably won't be for another decade yet.

[hugegrowth]

After .com and .ca, the .in is probably my largest holding due to the population size, use of english, open registration, and economic growth. Even though India uses two extensions, .in and .co.in, the population size and growth of the economy more than counter it IMO. Mobile use is big. The tech industry is expanding. The future looks promising.

When you talk Canada vs. India, we are only at 3% of their population. I would guess they already beat us in some economic stats, just by the sheer number of their population.

[Yaadoo]

It's hard for me to see .in take off from what I seen with .cn

China has like the same growth like India is experiencing with lots of people too, but look how poorly it's doing.

The fact that .in is stagnating tells me it's risky business.

[Jagusa]

I have not seen any stagnation with my .in sales, and end user inquiries continue to be frequent.

The fact that .in is stagnating tells me it's risky business.

[hugegrowth]

Canada GDP Per Capita (PPP): $35,600 (2006 Est.)
India GDP Per Capita (PPP): $3,800 (2006 Est.)

Don't these numbers indicate that India's GDP is about three times that of Canada?

[mediawizard]

I can tell you one thing from experience, only about 30% of .in/.co.in sales are actually even reported.

A lot of companies want to keep what they paid quiet, though for most its a pittance.

I really have no experience or indication of .ca, though Canada is a first world country so I wouldn't like to comment on comparisons, but .in is extremely viable. .co.in has been around longer but it has a downside -

While .in = India/Internet/International/Interactive/In....
.co.in = Indian company - kind of limiting.

When we started publishing in the Indian market in 1998, the entire userbase was 500k, now its closer to 70million, spending is way up, sites like naukri(jobs), shaadi(matrimonials), rediff(portal) are stand alones that are already worth $1 billion+. Ironically, all are .com, however the new breed - oneindia, zoom, aol (all .in) are really taking on the top guys.

The whole advantage for this ccTLD is that development is already huge and its penetrating real fast, .net.in/.org.in are also being used by smaller companies who can't afford or don't want to shell out big money to domainers. As we all know, development is what really drives up prices for extensions, not domainers And a large part of this development is by German, American and Russian domainers (.in) too!

[DomainMagnate]

I can tell you one thing from experience, only about 30% of .in/.co.in sales are actually even reported.

True and it's even much less for .ca! I've provided a sample here

[ktechsite]

yes exactly recently their has been many .in and .co.in sales but they have gone unnoticed

[whitebark]

Don't these numbers indicate that India's GDP is about three times that of Canada?

It is bigger by sheer numbers but that shouldn't be confused with what people can actually spend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...es_by_GDP_(PPP)

For the short-term I'd much rather be invested in a place where people have money to spend on things you want to sell them.

India and China are both still a decade away from being true powerhouses. Where the Internet will be by then is a whole other matter.

[hugegrowth]

I'd never abandon .ca to jump completely into .in, but it does give some good diversification. Not many country codes are completely open, .es and .cn also come to mind. Most have some presence requirements, like .us, .fr, .co.uk and .de (though you can get .de through some registrars who will be the country contact). And if I get away from english, french and spanish countries, I'm completely lost language-wise.

I think your '10 year' timeframe for India and China to become viable is a bit long, I'd say China is just about there, and India not far behind. The middle class population in both countries is surely larger than Canada's population right now.

The .ca vs .in doesn't really matter to people outside Canada, their only choice would be .in. And if you're in Canada, you should be in .ca to some extent because it's the market we're all most familiar with.

Despite how long India's economy takes to grow, domainers worldwide can speculate on the extension. That kind of speculation will be good for .in prices IMO, and could take them higher than their .ca counterparts.