.statebank New gTLD Application
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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: STATE BANK OF INDIA
String: statebank
Originally Posted: 13 June 2012
Application ID: 1-1029-24289
Applicant Information
- Full legal name
STATE BANK OF INDIA
- Address of the principal place of business
STATE BANK BHAVAN
MADAME CAMA ROAD, NARIMAN POINT
MUMBAI MAHARASHTRA 400021
IN
- Phone number
+91 022 2756 6230
- Fax number
+91 022 2756 3478
- If applicable, website or URL
http:⁄⁄www.sbi.co.in
Primary Contact
6(a). Name
Ms. ANITHA SHANMUGAM
6(b). Title
DEPUTY MANAGER(SYSTEMS)
6(c). Address
6(d). Phone Number
+91 022 2756 6230
6(e). Fax Number
+91 022 2756 3478
6(f). Email Address
Secondary Contact
7(a). Name
Mr. VILAS JANGAM
7(b). Title
ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER
7(c). Address
7(d). Phone Number
+91 022 2757 9129
7(e). Fax Number
+91 022 2756 3478
7(f). Email Address
Proof of Legal Establishment
8(a). Legal form of the Applicant
CORPORATION
8(b). State the specific national or other jursidiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).
INDIA
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.
Bombay_Stock_Exchange;SBI
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
- KRISHNA KUMAR MANAGING DIRECTOR
D.MITTAL DIRECTOR
D.SUNDARAM DIRECTOR
DEEPAK ISHWARBHAI AMIN DIRECTOR
DILEEP C.CHOKSI DIRECTOR
DIWAKAR GUPTA MANAGING DIRECTOR
G D NADAF OFFICER EMPLOYEE DIRECTOR
HEMANT G.CONTRACTOR MANAGING DIRECTOR
JYOTI BHUSHAN MOHAPATRA WORKMEN DIRECTOR
PARTHASARATHY IYENGAR DIRECTOR
PRATIP CHAUDHURI CHAIRMAN
RASHPAL MALHOTRA DIRECTOR
SUBIR V.GOKARN DIRECTOR
11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners
11(c). Name(s) and position(s) of all shareholders holding at least 15% of shares
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 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.
statebank
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.
State Bank of India 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.
State Bank of India (SBI) is the largest banking and financial services company in India by revenue, assets and market capitalization. It is a state-owned corporation with its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra (India). SBI is ranked # 292 globally in the Fortune Global 500 list in the year 2011. SBI and its thirty subsidiaries provide a wide range of financial products and services through its physical presence in more than 35 countries and through web presence such as its Corporate web site (www.sbi.co.in), Internet Banking and other transactional web sites.
SBI as an acronym has been in use since the time SBI came into existence in the year 1955. SBI being a short, easy to remember and easy to pronounce acronym is used very widely to refer to SBI and its group members.
Mission of .statebank
Currently, the web sites of SBI are registered under several existing TLDs like “.com”, “.in” and “.net” etc. The customer has to search and locate the various products⁄ services by navigating through all the web sites of SBI and its subsidiaries. Widespread possible naming conventions⁄ Cybersquatting in the existing TLDs may mislead any financial institutional customers to various phishing⁄ malicious web sites, leading to online fraud. SBI wants to have an exclusive ownership of a TLD, as it intends to have complete control on the second-level domain names to have “worldwide Uniform presence for the Brand SBI” and provide “Huge comfort level to customers”, web site by consolidating and simplifying their online identity.
Purpose of .statebank
SBI values the Internet as a strong medium to reach out to its customers. SBI believes that owning a TLD (.statebank) for brand purpose exclusively, can lead to the following benefits:
- Increased global brand visibility
- Efficient brand and domain name protection
- Deeper customer engagement and increased long-term brand loyalty
- Easy navigation for customers
- Enhanced security thereby increasing the customer’s confidence for online banking⁄ virtual banking
- Intuitive Internet navigation (product.statebank, service.statebank, campaign.statebank)
- Effective tool to avoid cybersquatting⁄ phishing related costs
- Reputation Management
- Search Engine Marketing⁄ Optimization cost reductions
- Greater level of control over Internet presence with regards to costs, intellectual property and technical control
- Enhancement of both internal and external communication as the chosen gTLD could become the focal point of SBI’s Internet presence for internal and external users
- Rationalize our online presence (including our portfolio of domains and trademarks) by existing online through our own gTLD domain name
- Reduction of Search Marketing Costs
- Ownership of a “Piece of the Internet” Representing the organization’s Identity and What We Do
- Increase in the value of the Company
- Own- brand online community building
- Complete control over second level registration and use
- New business models⁄ opportunities
- Social Media Optimization
- Simplification of online identity to mirror existing offline identity
- Minimization of Online Fraud
- Stronger marketing tool for creation of online campaigning
- Branded Top-Level Domains are like a warranty seal, thereby increasing the trust of the customer
- Minimal reduction of dependence on search engines in future
A 350+ million customer base accesses the web sites of SBI and its subsidiaries’ web site, either for managing their online banking accounts or accessing the information⁄ details about various products and services or for doing various transactions over payment gateways and so on.
Every year SBI spends USD 45,000,000 approximately on directing its audience to the correct web site, by the way of BTL (Below The Line) promotions through Newspapers⁄ Magazines, pamphlets, electronic medium (TV⁄ films etc.) and also by way of Exhibitions and Roadshows (Banners⁄ Holdings).
SBI plans to invest in this gTLD and acquire control over the .statebank string. For this project SBI has made an investment plan of around $400,000 over the next 3 years.
18 a, ii)
SBI will be using .statebank exclusively for its internal divisions and its subsidiaries. Currently, SBI has registered more than 150 domains in the “.com”, “.in”, “.net” and “.org” TLDs. Under these TLDs, SBI’s Corporate web site(www.sbi.co.in), domestic Internet Banking site, foreign Internet Banking sites, Enterprise e-mail service, SBI debit card payment gateway web site, web sites for products like prepaid card, cash management product, trade finance, Enterprise e-learning system, mobile banking, enterprise human resource management system, demat services, credit card and payment services, mutual fund services, capital markets service, general insurance service, life insurance service, global factors service, pension funds service, fund management service, custodial services and other banking subsidiaries in domestic and foreign purview. Also, additional domains are being registered each month to cater to the new products⁄ services being offered by SBI.
It is being estimated that in the first year after .statebank is allotted to SBI, around 25 second-level domains will be registered; in the second- year around 150 second-level domains will be live; in the third-year around 225 second-level domains will be live; in the fourth-year around 400 domains will be live and in the fifth-year around 600 second-level domains will be live.
In the first-year, priority will be provided to the existing domains of SBI. Combination of transactional and information web sites will be brought under the new gTLD of SBI. In the subsequent years, other existing domains and new domains of SBI and its subsidiaries will be also be brought under the new gTLD of SBI.
For instance, the existing Internet Banking web site of SBI is www.onlinesbi.com. The new second-level domain name of this web site would be www.onlinesbi.statebank. Similarly, all car loan-related content and details would be made available under www.carloan.statebank, the content of agriculture loans would be available under www.agriloan.statebank, details about deposit products of SBI would be available under www.deposit.statebank and details about debit cards would be available under www.atm.statebank etc. Similarly such second-level domains will be created under the new gTLD of SBI for the wide range of products and services of SBI and its subsidiaries. This would not only enable the customer-base of more than 350 million to navigate all our financial services easily, but also extend a higher-level of confidence and trust to the customer on the authenticity of the accessed web site.
18(b). How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
- General goals
The registrants for the gTLD to be availed by SBI will be from the internal divisions of SBI and its subsidiaries, as the gTLD is proposed to be exclusively used by SBI and its subsidiaries. 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.
Benefits to the registrants are as follows:
- Perception of enhanced security
- Perception of enhanced stability
- It is the perfect platform for global branding, marketing and visibility.
- As a perfect tool to promote brand
- Will be most likely Ranked high in search engines
- Reputation management
- Provides competitive edge
- Platform for innovation
- Linking products with a master brand (example: deposit.statebank)
- Shorter URLs
- Phishing related costs⁄cybersquatting cost can be reduced to a large extent
- Excellent opportunity to secure online namespace
- Better target finite audiences through customized content
- How .statebank adds to the current space
Existing domain name of Internet Banking web site of SBI is www.onlinesbi.com; following the delegation of .statebank to SBI, the second-level domain name of this domain will be www.online.statebank . Similarly, all other product, service, function related domain names can be made available under .statebank, such as www.carloan.statebank , www.agriloan.statebank , www.deposit.statebank , www.atm.statebank and so on. Similarly such second-level domains will be created under the new gTLD of SBI, for the wide range of products and services of SBI and its subsidiaries.
- User experience goals
Further, users of .statebank 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 control over the TLD
- Enhanced security
- Enhanced stability
- Minimal dependency on search engines
- Registry policies
As mentioned above in purpose .statebank will be used for SBI brand and its subsidiaries. It will be available to the registrants of SBI 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 .statebank 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 .statebank will be used for SBI brand and its subsidiaries. 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?
SBI 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.
Privacy Policy:
In line with the recognized International practice and for the information of customers and others who visit our SBI and its subsidiaries 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 SBI.
SBI 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
(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) SBI does not release customer information except as directed by law.
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.
Privacy policy is subject to change periodically.