Privacy Policy

Effective Date: April 5, 2025

Ankvidhi Technologies ("Company", "we", or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and safeguard your personal information when you use our AI-powered business automation tool offering WhatsApp-based assistants (the "Service"). It is tailored for our users in India and is designed to comply with applicable Indian laws, including the Information Technology Act, 2000 and relevant data protection regulations. By using our Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Information We Collect

We only collect information necessary to provide and improve our Service. This includes:

• Personal Identifiers: When you sign up via Google authentication, we collect your name and email address. We do not receive or store your Google account password (authentication is handled by Google).
• Account Credentials: If you create an account through other means (if applicable), we may collect your email and a password. All passwords, if collected, are stored in an encrypted form.
• Business Verification Documents: To verify your business, we may collect documents such as your GST certificate or other business registration documents. These documents may contain personal or business information (e.g., GSTIN, business name, address) and are uploaded by you.
• Location Information: We integrate Google Maps API to allow you to input business addresses or service locations. For example, you may enter or select your office location or areas where you provide services. We do not track your real-time GPS location. Any location data we collect is limited to the information you provide (such as an address or coordinates from the map) and is used for setting up your business profile on the Service.
• User Communications: We collect the content of messages and queries that you or your customers send through our WhatsApp-based assistant. This includes any text, images, or other data contained in those chats. We treat these communications as data you have provided to use the Service.
• Usage Data (Minimal): We do not use cookies or any third-party tracking for analytics or advertising. However, our servers may automatically record certain technical information when you use the Service, such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type (if using a web dashboard), device type, and timestamps of interactions. This data is collected only to monitor and ensure the security and proper functioning of the Service and not for profiling or tracking your behavior.

We do not collect any financial information or payment details at this time, as the Service is currently provided free of charge (see Terms and Conditions regarding potential future billing). We also do not knowingly collect any sensitive personal data about you that is not listed above, such as biometric data, health information, etc.

How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information for the following purposes, all in accordance with applicable law:

• To Provide and Maintain the Service: Your information is primarily used to allow you to use our AI assistant platform. For example, your Google account information (name, email) is used to create and authenticate your user account. The content of your chats and queries is used to generate AI-powered responses to you or your customers.
• AI Processing (Google Gemini): Our Service uses Google’s AI models (Google Gemini) to interpret messages and generate automated responses. This means that when you or your customers send a message to the WhatsApp assistant, the content of that message is securely transmitted to the Google Gemini AI service, which processes it and returns a response. We use the AI’s output to reply to the query. The information in the messages is used only for the purpose of understanding the query and generating a helpful response.
• Business Verification: If you provide GST or other business documents, we use those solely to verify your business’s legitimacy and eligibility to use certain features of the Service. This helps us ensure a trusted platform for all users.
• Service Communication: We may use your email to send important notices about the Service. This includes notifications of any updates to our terms or policies, alerts about Service performance or security, or customer support communications. We will not use your information to send marketing or promotional emails unrelated to the Service without your explicit consent.
• Improvement and Development: We may use aggregated and anonymized data (so that no individual user is identified) to understand how our Service is used and to improve our features. For example, we might look at general usage patterns like the number of queries handled per day or common request types, in order to enhance our AI models and performance.
• Security and Fraud Prevention: Information like device type, IP address, and usage logs may be used to detect and prevent fraudulent or unauthorized use of the Service. This helps protect your account and our platform from security threats.
• Legal Compliance: We may process and retain your information to comply with legal obligations. For instance, maintaining records as required by law or responding to lawful requests by government authorities (under applicable law).

We will only use your personal information for the purposes described above. If we need to use your data for any other purpose, we will update this Privacy Policy and, if required, seek your consent or provide you with a relevant notice.

Sharing of Your Information

We value your privacy and do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties. We share your information only in the following limited scenarios:

• Google Services: As mentioned, we integrate several Google services to operate our platform. Your information may be shared with Google only to the extent necessary for those services:
  • Google Authentication: When you sign in using Google, your credentials are processed through Google’s OAuth system. We receive your basic profile info (name, email) from Google. This interaction is governed by Google’s Privacy Policy as well.
  • Google Maps API: When you enter a location or address, that information is sent to Google Maps API to fetch details like coordinates or to verify the address. We do not send any other personal data to Google Maps beyond the location query itself. Google may temporarily log that query; such use is subject to Google’s Maps terms.
  • Google Gemini AI: The content of messages and queries is sent to Google’s AI servers for processing. Google will receive the message content and context necessary to generate a response. We do not share your account identifiers (like your name or email) with the AI service; however, the content of your chats could inherently contain personal data (for example, if a customer’s name or order info is in the query). Google processes this data to provide the AI result and is not authorized to use it for any other purpose except as needed to improve or maintain their AI service. (Please note that use of Google’s AI is also subject to Google’s terms and privacy commitments.)
• WhatsApp Platform: Our Service operates through WhatsApp to interact with your customers. We do not directly share your personal data with WhatsApp beyond what naturally occurs by using WhatsApp itself. For example, if you are using our assistant, messages will be sent via WhatsApp’s network, which means WhatsApp (owned by Meta) will process those messages as it normally does for any chat. Any data that WhatsApp processes is covered by WhatsApp’s own privacy policy. We do not receive additional data from WhatsApp aside from the message content that is delivered to our system.
• Service Providers (Infrastructure): We may use reputable third-party hosting or cloud storage providers (for example, servers on a cloud platform) to store data (such as your documents or chat logs) and to run the application. These service providers are bound by confidentiality and security obligations. They cannot use your data for any purpose other than to provide infrastructure services to us. (We primarily use Google Cloud services for hosting and storage, meaning your data may be stored on Google’s secure servers.)
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid legal requests (e.g., a court order, subpoena, or government demand under applicable laws). We will only share the specific data required and, whenever legally permissible, will inform you of such requests.
• Protection of Rights: If necessary, we may share information to enforce our Terms and Conditions or other agreements, or to investigate potential violations thereof. We may also share data to detect, prevent, or address fraud, security, or technical issues. This could include sharing information with law enforcement or consultants (such as auditors or legal counsel) if needed to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others.
• Business Transfers: In the event that Ankvidhi Technologies is involved in a merger, acquisition, investment, financing due diligence, reorganization, bankruptcy, receivership, sale of company assets, or transition of Service to another provider, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will ensure the new owner continues to honor the commitments we have made in this Privacy Policy regarding your personal data. You will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our Service of any change in ownership or use of your personal information.

Aside from the cases above, we do not share your personal information with any third parties. In particular, we do not disclose your data to advertisers or for marketing by outside parties, nor do we share your contact information without your consent.

Data Security

We take the security of your data very seriously and employ appropriate measures to protect it from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include:

• Encryption: All communications between your device and our Service (including messages relayed to Google’s AI and location queries to Google Maps) are encrypted in transit using HTTPS and other secure messaging protocols. Sensitive information like authentication tokens and stored documents are also encrypted at rest on our servers.
• Access Controls: Personal data and documents you provide are stored on secure servers with strict access controls. Only authorized personnel of Ankvidhi Technologies (who are bound by confidentiality obligations) can access user data, and even then, only on a need-to-know basis (for example, when troubleshooting an issue or verifying a document you submitted).
• Secure Storage: Documents such as GST certificates or other verification files are stored in a secure encrypted database or repository. We treat these as highly sensitive and apply additional protections to them.
• Regular Audits: We periodically review our information collection, storage, and processing practices, including physical security measures, to guard against unauthorized access to systems. We also keep our software and third-party libraries up to date to protect against security vulnerabilities.
• Employee Training and Policies: Our team members are trained on data security practices and the importance of protecting personal data. We maintain internal policies to ensure that any personal data is handled and processed in compliance with this Privacy Policy and applicable law.
• Incident Response: In the unlikely event of a data breach or security incident, we have procedures in place to contain the issue and to notify affected users and authorities as required by law. We will communicate with you without undue delay if your personal information is compromised, along with steps we are taking in response.

While we strive to protect your information with these robust measures, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee absolute security. You are also responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any account credentials (like your Google account login) and for restricting access to your devices. If you have any reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure (for example, if you suspect your account has been compromised), please immediately contact us using the details in the Contact Us section below.

Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. Here is how we handle retention for different types of data:

• Account Information: Your name, email, and any account-related information are kept for as long as you maintain an account with us. If you decide to delete your account or if your account is terminated, we will remove or anonymize this information within a reasonable time after the account closure, except where we are required to retain it for legal or compliance reasons. For example, we may need to retain certain data to comply with tax or accounting regulations, or to resolve disputes.
• Business Verification Documents: Documents like GST certificates are stored securely for as long as your account is active, as we may need to re-verify or reference them for compliance. If you close your account, we will securely delete these documents, unless we are required by law to retain them (for instance, to demonstrate compliance with KYC or other regulatory requirements). Typically, if not mandated otherwise, we will delete or anonymize such documents within 30 days of account deletion.
• Chat Data (Messages and AI Interactions): The content of WhatsApp conversations and AI-generated responses may be stored in our system to allow you (and us) to review past interactions, improve the Service, and ensure quality. We generally retain chat logs for the duration of your use of the Service. You can request deletion of specific chat histories by contacting us, and we will accommodate such requests to the extent practicable. If you delete your account, we will delete the chat data associated with your account from our servers, unless retention is required for a legitimate purpose (e.g., handling a dispute or legal requirement).
• Technical Logs: Logs such as IP addresses, device information, and usage timestamps are typically retained for a short period (generally 6 months) for security auditing and analysis, unless we need to keep them longer (e.g., if investigating a specific security incident). These logs are purged or anonymized on a rolling basis.
• Backups: Please note that residual copies of your data might persist in our routine backups for a short duration even after deletion. However, if restored from backup for any reason, we will ensure that deletion is carried out again as needed. Our backup retention is limited and encrypted.

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need or legal obligation to process your personal information, we will either delete it or anonymize it (so that it can no longer be associated with you). If deletion or anonymization is not immediately feasible (for example, because your data is stored in secure backups), we will securely store your information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

Your Rights and Choices

We respect your rights regarding your personal data. As a user of our Service in India, you have certain rights and choices, including:

• Access and Correction: You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you, including your profile details and any records of communications. You can typically access and update basic profile information (like your name or email) by logging into your account. For any information not accessible directly, you may request a copy of your personal data or ask for corrections if you believe it is inaccurate or incomplete. We will require you to provide proof of identity before fulfilling such requests and will respond within a reasonable time (in accordance with Indian law, usually within 30 days).
• Data Deletion: You may request deletion of your personal data. You can do this by contacting us to delete your account or specific data (for example, a particular document or chat record). Upon such request, we will delete your personal information from our active databases, except where retention is required by law or legitimate business purposes (as explained in Data Retention above). Please note that deleting certain data (like your account information) may affect your ability to continue using the Service.
• Withdrawal of Consent: Wherever we rely on your consent to process personal data (such as for using an optional feature), you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. For core functions of the Service (like processing messages with AI or verifying your business), withdrawing consent will mean we cannot provide those services to you. We will make this clear at the time you attempt to withdraw consent. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal.
• Account Deactivation: You can choose to stop using our Service at any time. If you wish to deactivate or delete your account, you can contact us with such a request. We will guide you through the process and confirm once the account is deleted. After deletion, as noted, we handle your data as per the Data Retention section.
• Communication Preferences: Since we do not send promotional communications without consent, the primary communications from us are service-related (for example, policy updates or security alerts). You cannot opt out of receiving essential service communications, but these are infrequent and only sent when necessary for the operation of the Service or legal compliance. If in the future we were to consider any marketing communication, we would provide an explicit opt-in choice.
• Grievance Redressal: If you have any grievances or complaints regarding your personal data or this Privacy Policy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with our Grievance Officer (contact details provided below). We will acknowledge and address any complaints in a timely manner, typically within 30 days, as required by law. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may have the right to escalate the issue to a data protection authority or other appropriate government body in India.

To exercise any of these rights or for any questions about your rights, please contact us at the details provided in the Contact Us section. We may need to verify your identity (for example, through your registered email or other information) before fulfilling certain requests, to ensure that your personal data is protected and only disclosed to the right person. Please note that some rights may not be absolute. There may be circumstances under which we cannot fully comply with your request, such as when a law requires us to retain information, or when compliance with a request could infringe on another person's privacy or other legal rights. In such cases, we will inform you about the reasons (to the extent allowed) and work with you to address your concerns.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We do not use cookies or similar tracking technologies on our platform. We do not use web beacons, pixel tags, Google Analytics, or any advertising cookies on our website or in our Service. Our Service is designed to function without requiring any cookies for user tracking or personalization. Because we do not deploy cookies, we do not display a cookie consent banner, and there is no need for users to manage cookie preferences for our Service. You can use our platform knowing that we are not monitoring your activities across other sites or building any tracking profiles about you. Please note that if our Service is accessed via a web browser or if it integrates with WhatsApp Web, the browser or WhatsApp might have their own cookies or storage for their functionality. Any such cookies would be controlled by the respective platforms (your web browser or WhatsApp) and not by Ankvidhi Technologies. We have no access to or control over how those third-party cookies operate. If in the future we decide to use any cookies or tracking tools to enhance our Service, we will update this Privacy Policy and (if required by law) seek your consent before doing so.

Third-Party Services and Links

Our Service incorporates or interacts with a few third-party platforms and services. This section provides more detail on those relationships and how they affect your data:

• Google Services: As described, we rely on Google for authentication (Google Sign-In), mapping (Google Maps API), and AI processing (Google Gemini). While using our Service, your data may be processed by Google’s systems. Google has its own terms of service and privacy policy, and your use of those integrated features is subject to Google’s terms. For instance, any use of Google Maps features is subject to the Google Maps/Google Earth Additional Terms of Service and Google’s Privacy Policy (available at https://policies.google.com/privacy). We encourage you to review Google’s privacy commitments if you have concerns, though we only share data with Google as outlined in this Policy.
• WhatsApp: Our AI assistant communicates via the WhatsApp platform, which is a third-party service provided by WhatsApp Inc. (a part of Meta/Facebook). If you or your customers use WhatsApp to communicate with our Service, those communications are also subject to WhatsApp’s own Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (see WhatsApp’s official site for their policy). We do not control WhatsApp’s practices. We simply use WhatsApp as a conduit for messages. We assume that as a business user of our Service, you already have a WhatsApp Business account or number and you agree to abide by WhatsApp’s rules for business messaging. We are not responsible for any data that WhatsApp itself collects or any action WhatsApp may take (such as blocking a number for suspected misuse).
• External Links: Our website or user dashboard might contain links to external websites or services (for example, a link to our support page, or documentation, or perhaps a link to government sites for GST verification). If you follow a link to any external site, please note that those websites have their own privacy policies and terms, which may differ from ours. We do not have control over the content or practices of third-party sites. We recommend you review the privacy policy of any site you visit.
• No Third-Party Ads: We do not display third-party advertisements in our app or website, so your data is not shared for ad targeting or analytics with any ad networks.

Other than the integrations specified above, we do not intentionally integrate with any other third-party data services. If this changes in the future, we will update you and modify this Privacy Policy accordingly.

Children’s Privacy and Age Restrictions

Our platform is intended for general use by businesses and individuals in India, and we do not impose specific age restrictions for using the Service.

• No Specific Age Barrier: We do not specifically target our Service towards children, but it is not explicitly restricted from them either. The content and features of our Service are business-oriented (for handling customer queries), and are not designed for or directed toward children under 13 years of age in particular. We expect that most users will be adults or representatives of businesses.
• Parental Guidance: If you are under 18, we advise that you use the Service with the consent and supervision of a parent or guardian. By using our Service, we assume that you (or your parent/guardian) have consented to allow the collection and use of your data as per this Privacy Policy.
• No Knowing Collection from Young Children: We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without parental consent. Given the nature of our Service, it’s very unlikely for young children to use it independently. If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child under 13 has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us. We will promptly delete such information from our records.

We encourage all users, regardless of age, to be mindful of the information they share and to use our Service responsibly. If we decide to impose any age-related restrictions or requirements in the future (for instance, due to changes in law or policy), we will update this Privacy Policy to reflect such changes.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update or revise this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. When we make changes, we will:

• Update the Effective Date: We will revise the "Effective Date" at the top of this Policy so you can see when the latest changes were made.
• Notify You of Material Changes: If there are significant changes to how we handle your personal information or your rights, we will provide a more prominent notice. This may include posting a notice on our website or Service dashboard, or sending an email notification to the address associated with your account. For example, if we were to start collecting additional personal data or share data with new third parties, we would inform you in advance.
• Obtain Consent if Required: In the event that any changes to this Policy require your consent (for example, if a new use of data is materially different and not covered by the consent you originally gave), we will seek your consent before implementing such changes with respect to your information.

We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy to stay informed about how we are protecting your information. Your continued use of the Service after any changes to this Privacy Policy have been posted will constitute your acknowledgment of the changes and your agreement to abide by the updated Policy. If you do not agree with any update to the Policy, you have the right to stop using our Service and may request deletion of your data as outlined above.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact our Grievance Officer. We are here to help and will address your inquiries promptly.

Email: contact@ankvidhi.com

Phone: +91-9972538979 (available during business hours)

(The above contact details are provided in accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and applicable rules. The Grievance Officer is appointed to address user grievances related to personal data and the Privacy Policy.)

We will acknowledge your queries or complaints within 24-48 hours and strive to resolve them within 30 days or as mandated by law. If you do not receive a timely response or are unsatisfied with our resolution of a privacy-related issue, you may escalate the matter to the appropriate data protection authority or adjudicatory body in India.

Thank you for trusting Ankvidhi Technologies. We value your privacy and are dedicated to protecting it while providing you with an efficient AI-powered service.