Back in June this year it was announced that Minds and Machines had been named as the exclusive registry and consulting provider for the New TLD .mumbai. Minds and Machines have also been linked to several other New TLD applications, including .berlin, .eco and .nyc. The company also went on to state that the applicant, India TL Domain Pvt Ltd, had received the necessary governmental support required by ICANN, for the .mumbai TLD.

In a letter they received from Shailaja Girkar, the deputy Major of Mumbai, the city gave their approval for the New TLD, and implored ICANN to approve the application:

“The city of Mumbai fully and exclusively supports the application of India TL Pvt Ltd for .Mumbai. We believe that this application best represents the interests and the community of the City of Mumbai and we request that ICANN approve this application.”

However, several months later, it looks like the approval has been revoked! City TLDs need governmental approval in order to comply with ICANN regulations, so this has the ability to stall the process somewhat.

In a renewed statement issued by Y.S. Mahangade, Deputy Director of IT at the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, it seems that the letter of support was actually written in error, and that it did not represent the Office’s official stance:

“Honorable Deputy Mayor of MCGM inadvertently issued a letter to one organization which has been revoked later by Honorable Deputy Major of MCGM. It may please be noted that the official position of the City of Mumbai is communicated by Municipal Commissioner.”

The snub is currently being investigated by Minds and Machines, and they issued a statement insisting this was the first they had heard of the apparent disapproval, and they were investigating it with India TL Domain Pvt Ltd who received the original letter.

Mumbai is India’s largest city with over 20 million citizens, making the .mubai TLD a potentially lucrative venture. After M + M secured the New TLD for their application portfolio, Minds and Machines issued two million new shares to an “un named consultant” in a deal that was worth around $260,000. So it’s certainly in their best interests to regain the approval as quickly as possible!

But this is not the first time that a Geographic TLD has been given the cold shoulder, even when approval has already been given. The same thing happened to DotConnectAfrica, who are applying for .africa, back in May when the African Union categorically denied offering support to any one particular applicant.

Let’s hope that Minds and Machines can sort this out quickly to they can keep their application on track!

Tweet