How to Transfer a Domain to Another Registrar in India

Moving a domain between registrars is a defined, standard process. Your website does not go down, your email keeps working, and you gain a year on your expiry date. The only genuinely hard part is sometimes getting the auth code out of whoever currently holds it.

Before you start: two conditions

• The domain must be at least 60 days old. Registry rules block transfers before that, and the clock restarts after a previous transfer.
• It must not be within 60 days of a change of registrant — if the owner name was changed recently, there is a similar lock.

Neither can be waived by any registrar. If you are inside those windows, wait it out.

Step 1 — Unlock the domain

Log in to your current registrar and turn off the transfer lock, sometimes called registrar lock or theft protection. It is usually a single switch in the domain settings.

Step 2 — Get the auth code

Also called an EPP code or authorisation code. It is a password proving you control the domain, and your current registrar must provide it on request — that is a registry requirement, not a courtesy.

Most control panels have a "get auth code" button that emails it to the registrant address. Which brings us to the common failure.

Step 3 — Check the registrant email works

The auth code and the approval email go to the address on the registrant record. If that is an old employee's inbox or a defunct address, update it first — but note this may trigger the 60-day change-of-registrant lock. Check the WHOIS before you touch anything; we will look it up for you free.

Step 4 — Start the transfer at the new registrar

Enter the domain and the auth code on our transfer page and pay the transfer fee. That fee buys you an extra year on the existing expiry date — you are not paying twice for time you already own.

Step 5 — Approve it

An approval email goes to the registrant address. Click the link. If you do nothing, most transfers complete automatically after five days; approving it manually is faster, usually a few hours.

Does my website go down?

No, provided you do not change the DNS at the same time. A transfer moves who manages the registration, not where the domain points. Copy your existing DNS records to the new registrar before the transfer completes and nothing changes for visitors.

This is the step people get wrong. Write down every record — A, CNAME, MX, TXT — before you start. If you use us, send them over and we will recreate them for you.

When your web designer will not hand it over

This is the most common reason people call us about transfers, and it is worth being blunt.

If the domain is registered in your name or your company's name, it is yours. Ask in writing for the auth code and give a deadline. If they refuse, you can escalate to the registrar and then to ICANN or, for a .in, to NIXI — a registrar is obliged to release a domain to its registrant.

If the domain is registered in their name, the position is weaker and messier. You may need to negotiate, or in the worst case register a fresh name and redirect. This is exactly why the registrant record matters and why we say so in every guide we write.

Either way, check the WHOIS first so you know which conversation you are having.

What it costs

A transfer costs the same as a year's registration on most extensions — ₹499 for a .in, ₹999 for a .com — and adds a year to your expiry. Our full price list shows the transfer price for every extension alongside registration and renewal.

Should you transfer at all?

Transfer if your current registrar hides renewal prices, charges for basics like DNS or privacy, is slow to answer, or holds your domain in their own name. Do not transfer just to save ₹100 — moving has a small administrative cost in attention, and the reason to move should be structural.

Stuck? Call +91-95851-60363. We do this most weeks and will tell you honestly whether it is worth the trouble.