India fortifies domestic web infrastructure with strategic NIXI-APNIC agreement

The National Internet Exchange of India and Asia Pacific Internet Community join forces to host a local RPKI server mirror, aiming to dramatically cut validation latency, bolster network resilience, and expand regional IPv6 leadership.

In a major push to protect national digital infrastructure, the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) has entered into a strategic memorandum of understanding with the Asia Pacific Internet Community (APNIC) to strengthen domestic routing security and optimize network performance.

Under the deal, NIXI will operate an in-country mirror of APNIC's Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) repository. By localizing this crucial server instance, India eliminates the need to route route-validation requests overseas, significantly lowering latency and hardening domestic networks against external outages. 

Enhancing routing security and speed

Addressing the operational impact of the partnership, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Joint Secretary Sushil Pal underscored that performing IP address validations domestically provides a faster, more dependable internet experience across the country.

Beyond establishing the local mirror, the bilateral framework focuses on accelerating the migration to Next-Generation Internet Protocol standards and sharing technical capabilities with telecom operators. NIXI Chief Executive Officer Devesh Tyagi highlighted India’s strong starting point, noting that the nation’s IPv6 penetration has reached nearly 80%, making it the leader across the entire Asia-Pacific footprint.

Expanding technical expertise

APNIC Director General Jia Rong Low commended India's digital trajectory, framing the joint initiative as an essential step toward elevating regional web integrity and empowering local network engineers through targeted skills training.

The landmark agreement comes as India hosts the 62nd Apnic Conference—the regional summit's return to the country after 14 years. Observing the vast growth in Indian data volume over the past decade, Low praised local operators for managing one of the world's most complex and fast-scaling internet ecosystems with remarkable adaptability.