06 August 2025

.shriram New gTLD Application

06 August 2025

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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: Shriram Capital Ltd.

String: shriram

Originally Posted: 13 June 2012

Application ID: 1-1857-52823

Applicant Information

Full legal name

Shriram Capital Ltd.

Address of the principal place of business

4th Floor, Mookambika Complex, #4 Lady Desika road

Mylapore, Chennai 600004

Chennai TN 600004

Phone number

+914424990356

Fax number

+914424993272

If applicable, website or URL

http:⁄⁄shriramcapital.com

Primary Contact

6(a). Name

Ms. Jasmine Sahni

6(b). Title

Business Manager

6(c). Address

6(d). Phone Number

+919176725328

6(e). Fax Number

6(f). Email Address

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Secondary Contact

7(a). Name

Mr. Sundararajan GS

7(b). Title

Managing Director

7(c). Address

7(d). Phone Number

+914443536030

7(e). Fax Number

7(f). Email Address

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Proof of Legal Establishment

8(a). Legal form of the Applicant

Ltd

8(b). State the specific national or other jursidiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).

Companies Act, 1956

8(c). Attach evidence of the applicant's establishment.

Attachments are not displayed on this form.

9(a). If applying company is publicly traded, provide the exchange and symbol.

9(b). If the applying entity is a subsidiary, provide the parent company.

9(c). If the applying entity is a joint venture, list all joint venture partners.

Applicant Background

11(a). Name(s) and position(s) of all directors

D V Ravi Managing Director

11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners

Arun Duggal Chairman

S Murali Executive Director and CFO

11(c). Name(s) and position(s) of all shareholders holding at least 15% of shares

Shriram Ownership Trust Not Applicable

TPG India Investments Not Applicable

11(d). For an applying entity that does not have directors, officers, partners, or shareholders: Name(s) and position(s) of all individuals having legal or executive responsibility

Applied-for gTLD string

Provide the applied-for gTLD string. If an IDN, provide the U-label.

shriram

14(a). If an IDN, provide the A-label (beginning with "xn--").

14(b). If an IDN, provide the meaning or restatement of the string in English, that is, a description of the literal meaning of the string in the opinion of the applicant.

14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (in English).

14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (as referenced by ISO-639-1).

14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (in English).

14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (as referenced by ISO 15924).

14(e). If an IDN, list all code points contained in the U-label according to Unicode form.

15(a). If an IDN, Attach IDN Tables for the proposed registry.

Attachments are not displayed on this form.

15(b). Describe the process used for development of the IDN tables submitted, including consultations and sources used.

15(c). List any variant strings to the applied-for gTLD string according to the relevant IDN tables.

Describe the applicant's efforts to ensure that there are no known operational or rendering problems concerning the applied-for gTLD string. If such issues are known, describe steps that will be taken to mitigate these issues in software and other applications.

Shriram Capital Ltd. anticipates the introduction of this TLD without operational or rendering problems. Based on a decade of experience launching and operating new TLDs, Afilias, the back-end provider of registry services for this TLD, is confident the launch and operation of this TLD presents no known challenges. The rationale for this opinion includes:

- The string is not complex and is represented in standard ASCII characters and follows relevant technical, operational and policy standards;

- The string length is within lengths currently supported in the root and by ubiquitous Internet programs such as web browsers and mail applications;

- There are no new standards required for the introduction of this TLD;

- No onerous requirements are being made on registrars, registrants or Internet users, and;

- The existing secure, stable and reliable Afilias SRS, DNS, WHOIS and supporting systems and staff are amply provisioned and prepared to meet the needs of this TLD.

(OPTIONAL) Provide a representation of the label according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/).

Mission/Purpose

18(a). Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD.

About our company:

Shriram Capital Limited (SCL) is the overarching holding company for the Financial Services and Insurance entities of the Shriram Group. The Shriram Group, which was incepted in 1974, has grown over the last three decades to become a Rs. 40,000 crore ($ 8 billion) group. Today, Shriram has grown to become one of India’s largest financial groups, with an increasing interest by investors. Shriram Group’s businesses strive to serve the largest number of common people (referred to ‘aam admi’ or ‘bottom of the pyramid’), through various products: Commercial Vehicle Financing, Consumer & Enterprise Finance, Retail Stock Broking, Life Insurance, Chit Funds, investment, Life Insurance and General insurance Products. Although financial services is the strength of the group (accounting for 90% of businesses), the group is growing and expanding in various non-financial businesses such as Real estate⁄ property, manufacturing, engineering, IT, Infrastructure and Power andAuto Machine.

The key business of the group is commercial vehicle financing, managed by Shriram Transport Finance Company, the largest asset financing company in India. Another group company, Shriram City Union Finance Ltd, is a leader in Retail Financeacross a wide range of products in the Industry. Shriram Life Insurance is a joint venture with the South African Insurance giant, Sanlam Insurance.

Shriram Capital, on a consolidated basis, has an overall customer base of 7 Million, 33,000 employees across 2700 offices, net profit of over Rs. 15 Billion ($ 300 million) with Assets Under Management (AUM) of over Rs. 500 Billion ($ 10 billion). SCL is well-positioned to take the Group to the next strategic level through consolidating its position in some of the key businesses like Transportation, Equipment Finance and providing the necessary impetus to grow its Retail Finance businesses. SCL will also help to grow the Insurance businesses (both Life & General Insurance) in the Group with optimal profit. The strategic reorientation of SCL will help Shriram Group to be a significant and profitable enterprise in various facets of the Financial Services businesses in India and overseas.

The Shriram group boasts of various senior level management, who are highly experienced and respected personalities in the financial services industry space. Going forward, the group looks to expand its partnership with global players, enter the banking industry, and grow its operations in non financial businesses.

Mission and Purpose of gTLD:

Shriram Capital intends to own a TLD, as it is looking for having a complete control on the second level domain names. Shriram Group overall has more than 15 subsidiary companies, various investors and partners, and numerous small businesses. To bring all these companies⁄partners underone umbrella name, Shriram is looking to apply for a gTLD (.shriram).

In the current situation, the group companies hold various different types of domains in current TLDs, such as ‘.com’, ‘.in’ and so on. This makes it difficult for one to remember the company website URL, and gives an impression of poor branding or communication of the group, as there is no standardisation within the domain names.

Although the Internet is a fast growing medium, there iswidespread possible naming conventions and elements of Cybersquatting. The existing TLDsmay mislead any financial institutional customers to various phishing⁄malicious websites, leading to online fraud. Shriram wants to have an exclusive ownership of a TLD (.shriram), so it can provide a complete level of security and comfort to its stakeholders, with respect to online fraud, malicious websites and the likes.

The Group would like to have complete ownership and control over the .shriramTLD, allowing it to market the Shriram brand, created over the past three decades, efficientlyand in a standard manner. The group began in 1974, and since then has grown in numbers multifold, as well as in the view of its customers and employees. The group does not want the brand value created by Shriram over the last three decades to be misused, and hence seeks to own this gTLD.

Shriram Capital sees the Internet as a strong and growing medium to reach out to its audience and various stakeholders. An increasing number of the group’s customers (low-income level) are becoming more technology savvy as compared to recent times, and see the Internet as an easily accessible tool for communication with the company, either in the form of payments, remittances, product information, customer portals or simply feedback and so on. For employees, the group sites are accessed for web-basede-mails, submitting claims, re-imbursements, leave applications and viewing dashboards⁄ performance reports.

Hence, Shriram Capital (SCL) plans to invest in owning its own TLD (.shriram). This will bring the following benefits to the Shriram Group:

Direct and easy navigation to URLs, causing less inconvenience
Marketing and building of the ‘Shriram’ brand in an efficient and proper manner
Uniformity and standardisation in the usage of prefixes across all group companies, bringing them all under one cloud
‘Shriram’ brand protection
Control over second level domain names
Possibility to avoid communication errors from Company to Customers or Customers to Company. The same can be avoided in communication with other stakeholders such as employees, agents, investors, partners, and board members. This will build our relationship with all our stakeholders in the long term
Showcase ourself as a leader in this space, maintaining the reputation of our brand
As most of our businesses are public, this will be a good reach for future businesses⁄ forays, such as Banking
Aligning customers into a common domain name
Effective tool to avoid malicious sites and increase security
Search Engine Marketing⁄Optimization cost reductions
Greater Internet presence and control for the group
Reduction in costs for site maintenance
Increased opportunities for digital marketing⁄Online branding⁄Campaigns
Less dependence on search engines as company URLs will be easier to remember⁄recall

Shriram Group: www.shriram.com; Shrriam Capital: www.shriramcapital.com (and .in); Shriram Transport Finance: www.stfc.in; Shriram City Union Finance: www.shriramcity.inand so on.

In addition to the above existing domains, there are various smaller companies which Shriram has acquired, or has a partnership with. Going forward, as the group expands it presence and reach to customers, more companies will be formed and⁄or acquired. Hence, there will be an increase in the number of domains which will be registered to cater to the new businesses and services offered by the group.

Assuming that our application for gTLD .shriram is approved, we have estimated and projected that in the first year, 25 domain names will be booked⁄registered. In the second year 150 domains will be live, and in the 3rd year 225 domains will be live. In the first year, we will allot domains to the above existing company URLs⁄domains, so as to bring all Shriram companies under a common cloud at the earliest. Going forward from the second year onwards, the smaller group companies will be bought under this TLD .shriram.

Once the gTLD has been allotted and approved for .shriram, we assume the above mentioned websites would become:

Shriram Group: www.group.shriram; Shriram Capital: www.capital.shriram; Shriram Transport Finance: www.stfc.shriram; Shriram City Union Finance: www.scuf.shriram and so on.

18(b). How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

Owning a gTLD will bring the following benefits to Internet Users:

Direct and easy navigation to URL’s, causing less inconvenience
Clear and direct communication with the company
Uniformity and standardisation in understanding the Shriram brand, not causing any confusion
Opportunity for users to express⁄provide feedback through a central company portal
Possibility to avoid communication errors from Company to Customers or Customers to Company. The same can be avoided in communication with other stakeholders such as employees, agents, investors, partners and board members. This will build our relationship with all our stakeholders in the long term.
As most of our businesses are public, this will be a good reach for future businesses⁄ forays, such as Banking where Internet payments, remittances and internet payments will become feasible
Opportunity for Customised services to customers
All Internet users will be aligned under a common Shriram umbrella
Reduction in malicious sites and increased security
Reduction in search engine dependence
Increased opportunities for digital marketing⁄Online branding⁄Campaigns

General Goals:

Shriram Capital will be using .shriram exclusively for its internal divisions and its subsidiary group companies. Currently, Shriram group hasregistered more than 20 domains ending in “.com”, “.in”, or “.org”.These include all the groups companies. Due to this, only legitimate second-level domain names will be registered. Complete control over the TLD will significantly improve security by minimizing opportunities for phishing or distribution of Trojans⁄malware and other causes of online fraud. We intend to market the Shriram brand in an efficient and standard manner, while optimising on opportunities for innovation, online branding and digital campaigns. We wish to also:

Use our online identity to reach out to our customers and other stakeholders
Ensure good reach for future businesses⁄ forays, such as Banking
Effective tool to avoid malicious sites and increase security
Reduce Search Engine Marketing⁄Optimization costs
Greater Internet presence and control for the group
Reduce costs for site maintenance

Increase opportunities for digital marketing⁄Online branding⁄CampaignsUser experience goals

The major goal will be to provide benefit to Internet users as website names are easily recalled and easily accessible for all of our stakeholders, especially our huge customer base. This will not only provide a level of comfort and security to the customer, but also help in aligning all companies under one name, hence marketing the ‘Shriram’ brand in a standardised manner.

Further, users of .shriram will benefit by:

Assurance to Internet users that they are interacting with a legitimate and an authentic web site.
Potential decrease in the risk of customer confusion and furthermore minimization of the risk of various online frauds
Deeper customer engagement
Easy navigation for customers
Enhanced security
Enhanced stability
Minimal dependency on search engines

How the gTLD string will add to theInternet space:

Existing domain names of Shriram Group is www.shriramgroup.com or www.shriramcapital.com,⁄On the approval of .shriram, the domain names will change too: www.group.shriram, www.capital.shriram. As explained in detail above, this will happen to all of the group company sites and services⁄products, hence bringing all of the businesses and products of the group under a single umbrella.

Registry policies

As mentioned above in purpose .shriram will be used for Shriram group of companies. It will only be available to the registrants of Shriram only (including the Sunrise period).

In general, domains will be offered for periods of one to ten years, but no greater than ten years. Initial registrations made in the Sunrise period may have a minimum number of years required. For example, there may be a policy that all Sunrise names must be registered for an initial term of at least one year.

The roll-out of our TLD is anticipated to feature the following phases:

- Reservation of reserved names and premium names, which will be distributed through special mechanisms (detailed below).

- Sunrise — the required period for trademark owners to secure their domains before availability to the general public. This phase will feature applications for domain strings, verification of trademarks via Trademark Clearinghouse and a trademark verification agent, auctions between qualified parties who wish to secure the same string, and a Trademark Claims Service.

- General Availability period — real-time registrations, made on a first-come first-served basis. Trademark Claims Service will be in use for the first 60 days after General Availability applications open. The registration of domain names in the .shriram TLD will follow standard practices, procedures and policies, which include the following:

- Domain registration polices (for example, grace periods, transfer policies, etc.) are defined in response #27.

- Abuse prevention tools and policies, for example, measures to promote WHOIS accuracy and efforts to reduce Phishing and Pharming, are discussed in detail in our response #28.

- Rights protection mechanisms and dispute resolution mechanism policies (for example, UDRP, URS) are detailed in #29.

Other detailed policies for this domain include policies for reserved names.

Reserved names

There are two categories of reserved names for this TLD: registry reserved and premium names.

Registry reserved names

We will reserve the following classes of domain names, which will not be made generally available to registrants via the Sunrise or subsequent periods:

- All of the reserved names required in Specification 5 of the new gTLD Registry Agreement.

- The geographic names required in Specification 5 of the new gTLD Registry Agreement.

- The registry operator’s own name and variations thereof, and registry operations names (such as registry.tld, and www.tld), for internal use.

- Names related to ICANN and Internet standards bodies (iana.tld, ietf.tld, w3c.tld, etc.), for delegation of those names to the relevant organizations upon their request.

- The list of reserved names will be published publicly before the Sunrise period begins, so that registrars and potential registrants will know which names have been set aside.

Premium names

As mentioned above in purpose .shriram will be used for its internal divisions and its subsidiary group companies. Although the policy for premium names is defined, the same will not be applicable due to the defined TLD purpose.

The registry will also designate a set of premium domain names, set aside for distribution via special mechanisms. The list of premium names will be published publicly before the Sunrise period begins, so that registrars and potential registrants will know that these names are not available. Premium names may be distributed via mechanisms such as requests for proposals, contests, direct sales, and auctions.

For the auctioning of premium names, we intend to contract with an established auction provider that has successfully conducted domain auctions. This will ensure that there is a tested, trustworthy technical platform for the auctions, auditable records, and reliable collection mechanisms. With our chosen auction provider, we will create and post policies and procedures that ensure clear, fair, and ethical auctions. As an example of such a policy, all employees of the registry operator and its contractors will be strictly prohibited from bidding in auctions for domains in the TLD. The auction rules will cover all possible scenarios, such as how domains will be awarded if the winning bidder does not make payment.

Privacy and confidential information protection as per the New gTLD Registry Agreement, we will make domain contact data (and other fields) freely and publicly available via a Web-based WHOIS server. This default set of fields includes the mandatory publication of registrant data. Our Registry-Registrar Agreement will require that registrants consent to this publication.

We shall notify each of our registrars regarding the purposes for which data about any identified or identifiable natural person (“Personal Data”) submitted to the Registry Operator by such registrar is collected and used, and the intended recipients (or categories of recipients) of such Personal Data (the data in question is essentially the registrant and contact data required to be published in the WHOIS). We will require each registrar to obtain the consent of each registrant in the TLD for the collection and use of such Personal Data. The policies will be posted publicly on our TLD web site. As the registry operator, we shall not use or authorize the use of Personal Data in any way that is incompatible with the notice provided to registrars.

Our privacy and data use policies are as follows:

- As registry operator, we do not plan on selling bulk WHOIS data. We will not sell contact data in any way. We will not allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission by e-mail, telephone, or facsimile of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations.

- DNS query data will never be sold in a way that is personally identifiable.

- We may from time to time use the demographic data collected for statistical analysis, provided that this analysis will not disclose individual Personal Data and provided that such use is compatible with the notice provided to registrars regarding the purpose and procedures for such use.

As the registry operator we shall take significant steps to protect Personal Data collected from registrars from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration, or destruction. In our responses to Question 30 (“Security Policy”) and Question 38 (“Escrow”) we detail the security policies and procedures we will use to protect the registry system and the data contained therefrom from unauthorized access and loss.

Please see our response to Question 26 (“WHOIS”) regarding “searchable WHOIS” and rate-limiting. That section contains details about how we will limit the mining of WHOIS data by spammers and other parties who abuse access to the WHOIS.

In order to acquire and maintain accreditation for our TLD, we will require registrars to adhere to certain information technology policies designed to help protect registrant data. These will include standards for access to the registry system and password management protocols. Our response to Question 30, “Security Policy” provides details of implementation.

We will allow the use of proxy and privacy services, which can protect the personal data of registrants from spammers and other parties that mine zone files and WHOIS data. We are aware that there are parties who may use privacy services to protect their free speech rights, or to avoid religious or political persecution.

18(c). What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?

Shriram has adopted the above-mentioned and other policies to ensure fair and equitable access and cost structures to the Internet community, including:

- no new burdens placed on the Internet community to resolve name disputes.

- utilization of standard registration practices and policies (as detailed in responses to questions 27, 28, 29).

- protection of trademarks at launch and on-going operations (as detailed in the response to question 29).

- fair and reasonable wholesale prices.

- fair and equitable treatment of registrars.

As per the ICANN Registry Agreement, we will use only ICANN-accredited registrars, and will provide non-discriminatory access to registry services to those registrars.

Pricing Policies and Commitments

Pricing for domain names at General Availability will be $0 per domain year. Applicant reserves the right to change this pricing for promotional purposes in a manner available to all accredited registrars. Registry Operator reserves the right to work with ICANN to initiate an increase in the wholesale price of domains if required. Registry Operator will provide reasonable notice to the registrars of any approved price increase.

In line with the recognized International practice and for the information of customers and others who visit our Shriram and its group companies’ web sites, we believe it is necessary to post a privacy statement. We understand that our customers and web site visitors are concerned about the privacy of information. We have established policies and procedures concerning the collection, use and security of users’ information that will help protect their privacy. Our privacy policies are designed to help us serve our customers⁄visitors while maintaining strict privacy and security standards. Customer confidentiality and privacy are of utmost concern to Shriram.

Shriram respects the privacy rights and interests of each person and will observe the following principles when processing sensitive ⁄ personal data:

(i) Data will be processed fairly and lawfully.

(ii) Data will be collected for specified and legitimate purposes and not processed further in ways incompatible with those purposes which have been duly explained, communicated to and consented to by each person concerned.

(iii) Data will be relevant to and not excessive for the purposes for which they are collected and used. For example, data may be rendered anonymous when feasible and appropriate, depending on the nature of the data and the risks associated with the intended uses.

(iv) Data will be kept only as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and processed and in accordance with data storage requirements under various applicable local laws.

(v) Data will be processed in having full regard to each person’s lawful rights (as described in these Standards or as provided by appropriate law).

(vi) All appropriate technical, physical, and organizational measures will be taken to prevent unauthorized access, unlawful processing, and unauthorized or accidental loss, destruction, or damage to data.

(vii) Shriram does not release customer information except as directed by law or as per your mandate.

We use information to:

Comply with all applicable laws and regulations
Help us design or improve our products and services for users benefit.
Understand users’ needs so that we can provide quality products and superior services.
To comply with laws, guidelines and regulations that govern the financial services in the country.