article called Inside Directi's India Based Domain Empire written by Gregg McNair). Turakhia is constantly on our radar screen because he (and his brother/business partner Bhavin) have created not only one of the most important companies in the domain industry, but one of the fastest growing technology companies in all of Asia. Deloitte & Touche has ranked Turakhia's companies among the Top 50 Fastest Growing Technology Companies in India and Top 500 Fastest Growing Companies in Asia for the past four years in a row.

As a result, the 28-year-old Turakhia has become an increasingly important mainstream business figure in India (Directi headquarters are located in Mumbai). That fact was underscored when Bloomberg's powerful UTV network put him on the air to discuss changes required in the Indian government's forthcoming budget for 2010.

Above and below: Screen captures of Divyank Turakhia 
from business giant Bloomberg's UTV Network in India

As McNair noted in the article he wrote for our newsletter, people outside of India would be stunned by the size and potential of the operation Directi has built in Mumbai. As just one example, McNair described his first visit to the company's new 7-story headquarters building this way, "Spread across 120,000 square feet, the Directiplex has a capacity of 1,500 seats and amenities that rival any contemporary Western IT business. From a staff restaurant employing highly credentialed chefs to a staff gaming room to a bowling alley in the soon to be completed basement, the staff in this company enjoys working conditions to be envied by most employees anywhere on this planet!"

If the domain industry eventually makes the breakthrough in mainstream business world recognition that many of us believe it one day will, odds are Turakhia and Directi (a company valued at more than $300 million) will be largely responsible for that.

Elsewhere today, Verisign has released their latest Domain Industry Brief, covering the 4th quarter of 2009. The report says The Internet added 11 million domain name registrations in 4Q/2009 sending the total number of active registrations in all extensions past the 192 million mark at the end of 2009. That represents an increase of 15 million registrations over the number in effect at the end of 2008 - a year over year growth rate of 8.5% in the middle of a severe recession.

The overall base of .com and .net domain names (the extensions operated by Verisign) grew to 96.7 million at the end of 2009, a 7% gain over the same quarter in 2008. There are many more interesting facts in this always useful quarterly report, so take some time to read it in its entirety.