The top-level domain (TLD) ‘.sbi’ is a specific term attached to the State Bank of India (SBI), which is one of the largest and leading public sector banks in India. A TLD is the last segment of a domain name – the letters immediately following the final dot, used to classify domain names on the Internet. In the case of ‘.sbi’, the State Bank of India has been allocated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), for the sole and exclusive use by the bank, Its related units and its stakeholders.
Your question relates to the assignment and use of the .sbi TLD. This domain extension represented SBI’s thrust towards the convergence of traditional banking with digital platforms creating a ubiquitous presence.
SBI has been using the ‘.sbi’ as its exclusive domain extension since 2017 as part of the bank’s digital initiative for making its virtual presence more secure. The move was intended to eliminate the risks involved with the transactions through fake websites pretending as SBI’s websites.
The ‘.sbi’ served numerous purposes for the State Bank of India. On one hand, it was an innovative step to validate and secure the brand’s digital presence, while, on the other hand, it was a user-friendly option for customers to identify the real website from the fraudulent ones. The migration of the bank’s official corporate website ‘www.sbi.co.in’ to ‘bank.sbi’ depicted this shift towards a safe and secure digital banking experience.
The move to adopt the ‘.sbi’ domain extension was in line with the bank’s Safe Internet Banking campaign. The announcement for the official launch of the ‘.sbi’ domain happened by the bank’s top management itself.
This migration to ‘.sbi’ TLD was following ICANN’s New Generic Top-Level Domain (New gTLD) Program launched in 2011. This program was aimed at increasing competition, innovation and choice in the domain name space. Inviting public and private organizations to apply for TLDs relevant to their brand (source: ICANN website).
This ‘.sbi’ adoption is a brilliant example of how an organization level TLD can provide an outlet for branding, security, and customer trust. In a space where credibility matters and where the duplication is relatively easy, the unique TLD ‘.sbi’ serves as an identifier for the brand online.
ICANN’s official website and SBI’s official press releases provide more concrete information about the introduction and deployment of the ‘.sbi’ domain extension. Sources: ICANN (https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/tlds-2012-02-25-en), SBI (https://www.sbi.co.in/web/corporate-governance/press-release)
