.tata

Status:	Proposed
Registry Provider:	Afilias
Type:	GeoTLD
More information:

.tata is a GeoTLD/Brand TLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is TATA SONS LIMITED.

This string, applied for by the applicant as a Brand TLD, was deemed a Geographic TLD by ICANN's Geographic Names Panel, referring to a province in Morocco. Geo TLDs must have government support in order to pass evaluation and proceed towards delegation. The applicant failed the Initial Evaluation because of this geographic ruling. It is eligible for Extended Evaluation.

Application Details

The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:

"Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, Tata’s early years were inspired by the spirit of nationalism. It pioneered several industries of national importance in India: steel, power, hospitality and airlines. The Tata group today comprises over 100 operating companies in seven core business sectors: communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. The group has operations in more than 80 countries across six continents, and its companies export products and services to 85 countries. Tata Sons Limited (“TSL” or “REGISTRY APPLICANT”) is the group holding company and owners of the Trademark and copyright in the Name and Brand “TATA”. All the group companies are allowed to use the TATA Brand through an elaborate system called “Tata Brand Equity and Business Promotion Scheme”. Tata Today In more recent times, its pioneering spirit has been showcased by companies such as TCS, India’s first software company, and Tata Motors, which made India’s first indigenously developed car, the Indica, in 1998 and recently unveiled the world’s lowest-cost car, the Tata Nano. The total revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $83.3 billion (around Rs 3,796.75 billion) in 2010-11, with 58 per cent of this coming from business outside India. Tata companies employ over 425,000 people worldwide. The Tata name has been respected in India for more than 140 years for its adherence to strong values and business ethics. In tandem with the increasing international footprint of Tata companies, the Tata brand is also gaining international recognition. Brand Finance, a UK-based consultancy firm, valued the Tata brand at $15.75 billion in 2011 and ranked it 41st among the worldʹs 100 most valuable brands. BusinessWeek magazine ranked Tata 17th among the ʹ50 Most Innovative Companiesʹ list and the Reputation Institute, USA, in 2009 rated it 11th on its list of the worldʹs most reputable companies. Why Tata is applying for a gTLD The Internet, as we know it today is a giant web of collected data spinning ever more information than we know what to do with. To sift through this smorgasbord of data, to identify and arrive at the correct information is no mean task. Every user⁄visitor to the company web site is a potential customer. The web site (www.tata.com) is the company’s interface between itself and the user to educate about and transact its business. The site performs multiple functions as a knowledge centre and storehouse of information; it informs the user of the Tata Group and its various companies, disseminates news, and helps to find specific information, and links to the individual web sites of various Tata group companies. The web site helps in creating and building trust which is very important to make the user feel comfortable and at ease, which will ensure that they will visit again. This helps maintain and create goodwill for the Tata brand. Why would the Tata Brand require a .tata domain? Is the present .com domain insufficient to suit its modern needs? A lot of modern day business is transacted on the Internet. People are not just using their computers to log in. They are increasingly using mobile phones and portable devices to access the Internet even on the move. Cloud computing allows us to upload and access our data from almost anywhere, which allows even more flexibility and scalability. This vast movement of Internet traffic throws up questions of security, for the user and the organization. The Phishing, chances of the user being redirected to a fake URL when an erroneous spelling is entered, would be reduced with the use of this new TLD. A gTLD would represent a shift from the generic to the specific. It would allow the Tata group to limit registrations within the family group of companies, without any fear of somebody else cyber-squatting on a name, unlike in the case of unrestricted generic TLDs. It would free the user from remembering various URLs within the generic domain, and provide him with the security of an exclusive domain to which he can link, without fear of authenticity. With the new TLD .tata, we can guarantee the Internet user that they have arrived at the correct site. Not only the authenticity of the main site is validated, but they can also be sure that all the links of the individual web sites of the group companies (who will have the new domain names with the TLD .tata) are also genuine."

Top-Level Domain