Why Namecheap is blocked in India and what to do

Namecheap one of the most popular domain registrar and hosting companies has been blocked in India. Customers in India trying to access Namecheap.com are met with the error “This site can’t be reached”.

Why Namecheap was blocked in India

On February 10, 2023, the Delhi High court ordered the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) through relevant bodies like Internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to Namecheap.com, Dynadot.com, Tucows.com, etc for not responding or complying with several court orders. Other domain registrars like  Newfold which operates Bluehost, Hostgator, ResellerClub, among others were spared because they responded and appointed grievance officers to handle complaints raised by affected brands.

Big brands in India had moved to the high court and filed a case against several domain registrars for refusing to block domains violating their trademarks. Complainants also argued that the websites used their brand names to scam clients large sums of money.

While defending themselves, The Delhi Police argued that it had become difficult to trace the domain owners because their identity was hidden and domain registrars did not honor requests from the complainants to either ban, suspend or pull down the infringing domains.

UPDATE 1: On March 16, 2023, Namecheap issued a statement and indicated that they are following up on the case and expect to have the matter resolved in 3 days.

UPDATE 2: On March 22, 2023, Namecheap released a statement that it had resolved the issue and the block has been removed.

How to access Namecheap.com in India

The only option you have to access Namecheap.com in India is to use a VPN. Opera desktop browser has a free VPN integrated into their browser that you can use.

If you are in India and are looking for a compliant, affordable, and reliable alternative to Namecheap, then we do recommend Hostinger.

Also read, top 10 web hosting companies.