Gurugram switch sparks web race
GURGAON: Gurgaon may not officially be Gurugram yet but that hasn’t stopped hundreds from making a dash to book website domains featuring the proposed name.
Over 1,000 new website domains — the name of a particular site, such as google. com — have been booked with the word ‘Gurugram’ in them since Gurgaon was renamed on Tuesday.
This is unusual, Noida-based entrepreneur Amit Bhati told HT, as only nine websites had registered domain names with Gurugram as the choice name before the renaming announcement.
A choice name is what websites use before the dot in the domain. For example, abc is the choice name in the domain abc.com.
“Domain registration with Gurugram as choice name went up to 32 within 20 minutes and to 58 in one hour of announcement. More than 90 domains were registered with Gurugram choice name by Wednesday morning” said Bhati.
He said he booked domains such as gurugram.news, gurugram.property and others.
According to web hosting experts, reselling domain names can fetch at least Rs 1 lakh.
The district administration said the land was given to Guru Dronacharya by his disciples in the Mahabharata era, and hence the district was renamed as Gurugram (teacher’s village).
The new name is outstripping even Gurgaon in web popularity. Bhati said only 86 domains were registered with Gurgaon as choice name in the past two years. But those whose websites have Gurgaon in their names fear becoming redundant. Website developers feel they will have to work from scratch as it will not be easy to get domain names with Gurugram in them.
“Booking a domain name can cost from Rs 300 to Rs 4,000 depending on the name and those who booked Gurgaon domains in bulk are in the lurch now,” said Bhati.
Deepali Chugh, a resident of south Delhi’s Greater Kailash who booked gurugram.net, said domains with Gurgaon will not become obsolete immediately but lose usage with time.
A Gurgaon-based web developer Raj Gupta said all important domains with Gurugram in them have been taken.
The name change is also effecting changes on Facebook, where at least 10 new pages devoted to Gurugram have come up.