DNS checks from India query your domain's authoritative nameservers from the Google LLC node in New Delhi and record the answer and query time. Google's own DNS infrastructure (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) has extensive anycast coverage in India including Delhi and Mumbai, but this tool queries your authoritative nameservers directly rather than using Google's public resolver, so the source IP is the probe node in AS396982 rather than Google's resolver infrastructure.

GeoDNS validation from India is important for the South Asian market. AS396982 source IPs from New Delhi should be geolocated to India by major GeoIP databases. If your GeoDNS policy routes Indian users to a Singapore or Mumbai-based server, the DNS check from this node should return the Asia-South or India-region IP. A US or European return address from an India-directed GeoDNS policy indicates a gap in your GeoIP coverage for Google Cloud India IP ranges.

NIXI operates public DNS infrastructure for Indian users as part of its national IX mandate, but authoritative DNS for most commercial domains is served via commercial managed DNS providers. Propagation after a DNS change should reach India within the zone's TTL once the authoritative tier is updated. The DNS check bypasses recursive caches and queries the authoritative server directly, so a result from this node showing the old record after a change means the authoritative server in the India-nearest zone has not yet received the updated record.

India has one of the largest internet user populations in the world, estimated at over 800 million active users — the second largest national user base after China. Despite this scale, the internet exchange ecosystem is less developed than in comparable markets. NIXI (National Internet Exchange of India) operates at multiple cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. However, a significant share of intra-India traffic historically transited through Singapore or other international points rather than exchanging domestically, driving up latency for purely Indian inter-ISP traffic.

Mumbai is the primary international internet gateway for India. Multiple submarine cable systems land in Mumbai and Chennai: SEA-ME-WE 4, SEA-ME-WE 5, EIG (Europe India Gateway), IMEWE (India-Middle East-Western Europe), and SAFE all have Indian landing points. Mumbai's cable infrastructure makes it the natural aggregation point for India's international connectivity. Delhi is connected to the international layer via long-haul domestic fibre from Mumbai, adding 10–15 ms of intra-India latency for Delhi-originated traffic to reach submarine cable systems.

Our probe node in India runs on AS396982 (Google LLC) in New Delhi. Google operates significant Cloud infrastructure in India, with regions in Mumbai and Delhi. AS396982 is Google's primary infrastructure ASN globally, meaning this node benefits from Google's private backbone for inter-PoP communication. Reference RTTs from this node: New Delhi to Mumbai ~30 ms, to Singapore ~60 ms, to Hong Kong ~80 ms, to London ~150 ms, to Frankfurt ~155 ms, to New York ~215 ms.

Domestic carriers serving India include Jio (AS55836), Airtel (AS9498), Vodafone Idea, BSNL (AS9829), and Tata Communications (AS6453). Jio and Airtel together serve the majority of mobile internet users. Tata Communications operates one of the largest submarine cable networks globally and provides transit to many Indian ISPs and international carriers peering into India. DE-CIX Mumbai, launched in 2023, adds a new neutral peering point in the financial capital alongside NIXI Mumbai and Mumbai-IX.

Testing from the New Delhi node provides visibility into North Indian network conditions. India is a geographically large country — a result from Delhi does not represent Mumbai or Chennai, which have direct submarine cable access and consequently lower international latency. For comprehensive India coverage, supplementing Delhi tests with a Mumbai-based node is advisable. The Delhi node is most representative for users in North India, Pakistan border regions, and Central Asian traffic that enters India from the north.