Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Aadhya Ventures, based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, and founded by Tanmay Mehta (Founder) and Shubh Mehta (Co-founder), is the Data Fiduciary for personal data processed through Paisook. This Policy is our notice under Section 5 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the DPDP Rules, 2025, and our privacy policy under Rule 4 of the IT (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011.

2. Our approach in short

• Your ledger — transactions, balances, budgets, receipts and messages we read — stays on your phone.
• We read bank SMS, bank emails and payment notifications on your device only, and never upload their text.
• Backups go to your own Google Drive, encrypted on your phone — with a key kept in your account, or a passphrase only you know.
• We never sell your data and never use it for advertising.

3. Personal data we process, and why

Each item below says what we process, why, and where it is kept.

• Backup key (optional) — if you choose backup without a passphrase, a random encryption key for your Drive backup. Purpose: let you restore on a new phone by signing in. Our servers, readable only by your signed-in account; it is useless without your Drive file, which we never receive. Deleted with your account.
• Account details — name, email, sign-in method (email or Google), app version, device platform, dates joined and last active. Purpose: create and secure your account, keep the service working, count active users. Stored on our servers (Google Firebase).
• Consent record — when and to which version you agreed. Purpose: prove and manage your consent. Our servers.
• Plan and payments — plan status, validity and the UPI reference, amount and date you submit when buying Pro. Purpose: switch on Pro, handle refunds, comply with tax and accounting law. Our servers.
• Points total — a single number. Purpose: run the points programme. Our servers.
• Bank / UPI / card SMS (optional, SMS permission) — read on your device to find payments. Only the recognised transaction is saved, on your device. OTPs and personal messages are ignored and never saved.
• App notifications (optional, notification access) — payment, bank and mail-app notifications are read on your device to find payments. Only the transaction is saved, on your device.
• Bank alert emails (optional, Gmail) — see section 6.
• Your ledger — transactions, accounts, budgets, goals, loans, bills, reminders, notes, receipts and tax tags. Purpose: the app's features. Your device only (and your encrypted backup, if you turn it on).
• Camera and photos (optional) — to scan UPI QR codes and attach receipts. Processed and kept on your device.
• Family ledger and groups (optional) — the summaries or entries you choose to share, your name, role, consent and optional UPI ID. Purpose: show them to the members you share with. Our servers.
• Support messages — what you send us. Purpose: answer you. Kept in our email.

We do not collect your contacts, location, call logs, UPI PIN, card numbers, CVV, bank passwords, Aadhaar or biometrics. App-lock fingerprint checks are done by Android; we never receive biometric data.

4. Legal basis

We process personal data on the basis of your consent (Section 6 of the DPDP Act), which you give by tapping "I agree" and by granting each optional permission, and for legitimate uses permitted by Section 7, such as data you voluntarily provide for a specific purpose and compliance with law or court orders.

Your consent is free, specific, informed, unconditional and unambiguous. Each optional permission can be refused without losing the rest of the app. You may give, manage and withdraw consent directly in the app or, once available, through a Consent Manager registered with the Data Protection Board.

5. Processing on your device

Reading and understanding SMS, notifications and emails happens on your phone. Message text is not sent to us or anyone else. We keep app data in the app's private storage, which other apps cannot read.

6. Google user data (Gmail and Google Drive)

• Gmail (optional, read-only gmail.readonly): when you connect Gmail, the app searches only for alert emails from banks and card issuers, downloads them from Google straight to your phone, and saves only the transaction found (amount, date, payee, account). Email content is never sent to or stored on our servers or any third party. The app cannot send, delete or change email. Disconnect any time in Settings → Bank emails, or at myaccount.google.com/permissions.
• Google Drive (optional, drive.appdata): the app saves one encrypted backup file in a hidden app folder of your own Drive. It cannot see any of your other files. We never receive the backup file.
• Android phone backup: if Google backup is on in your phone's settings, Android may also save the app's data (ledger and settings, not the app-lock keys or receipt photos) to your Google account, encrypted, and bring it back when you reinstall. This is run by Android and Google, not by us; you can turn it off in your phone's settings.

Paisook's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Google user data is used only to provide these user-facing features, is not used for advertising, is not sold, is not transferred except as needed to provide the feature or as required by law, and is not read by humans except with your consent, for security, or as required by law.

7. Who we share data with

We do not sell or rent personal data. We share it only:

• with our Data Processors under contract — Google LLC / Google Cloud (Firebase Authentication and Cloud Firestore) to run accounts and shared features;
• with people you choose — family or group members see what you share with them;
• with apps you open — when you pay, the payee details and amount are handed to the UPI app you pick;
• when required by law, court order or a lawful request from a government agency, or to protect the rights and safety of users and the public.

8. Transfers outside India

Our service providers may store or process data on servers outside India. Such transfers are made as permitted under Section 16 of the DPDP Act and will stop for any country the Government of India restricts.

9. How long we keep data

• Account, consent, plan and points records: while your account is active, and then erased within 30 days of account deletion or consent withdrawal, except where a law requires us to keep something longer (for example, payment records for tax and accounting).
• Inactive accounts: if you do not use the Service for 3 years, we will erase your account record, after telling you at least 48 hours before.
• Security and processing logs: kept for at least one year, as the DPDP Rules require, then erased.
• On-device data: until you delete it, sign out, or uninstall the app. Your Drive backup and any Android phone backup stay in your Google account until you delete them. A backup key, if you use one, is erased when you delete your account.

10. Security

We follow reasonable security practices as required by the IT Rules, 2011 and the DPDP Rules, 2025, including encryption in transit (TLS), encryption of backups with AES-256 on your device, strict server access rules that let each user reach only their own records, code obfuscation, optional app lock, and limited administrative access. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your data and review our safeguards regularly.

11. Personal data breach

If a personal data breach occurs, we will inform you and the Data Protection Board of India without delay, describing what happened, the likely impact, what we are doing and what you can do, and will send the Board a detailed report within 72 hours, as the DPDP Rules require. Cyber-security incidents are reported to CERT-In within 6 hours as required by its Directions.

12. Your rights

Under the DPDP Act you have the right to:

• Access — a summary of your personal data we process and the processing activities, and who we have shared it with (Section 11). Settings → Download my data gives you a copy of your ledger.
• Correction and erasure — to correct, complete, update or erase your personal data (Section 12). You can edit or delete entries in the app, and delete your account in Settings.
• Withdraw consent — at any time, as easily as you gave it, in Settings (Section 6(4)). Processing based on consent then stops; it does not affect processing already done. Some features will stop working.
• Grievance redressal — to complain to our Grievance Officer (Section 13).
• Nominate — to nominate someone to exercise your rights if you die or become incapable (Section 14).

To exercise a right, use the in-app options or write to the support email shown in Settings → Help & feedback from your registered email. We may need to verify your identity. We respond within the time the law requires.

13. Your duties

Section 15 of the DPDP Act asks you to comply with the law, not impersonate anyone, not suppress material information, not file false or frivolous complaints, and give only verifiably authentic information when asking for correction.

14. Children

The Service is not for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly process children's personal data and do not track or target children. If we find an account belongs to a child, we will erase it.

15. Cookies and tracking

The app uses no advertising identifiers, ad trackers or third-party analytics. Our website uses no cookies; it loads fonts from Google Fonts.

16. Grievance Officer and complaints

Grievance Officer, Aadhya Ventures · Email: the support email shown in Settings → Help & feedback · Based in Mumbai, Maharashtra

We acknowledge grievances within 48 hours and resolve them within 30 days, and in any case within 90 days as the DPDP Rules allow. If you are not satisfied, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

17. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy. The current version is always in the app and on our website. If a change affects how we use your data, we will tell you in the app and ask for your consent again where required.