Privacy Policy

Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Information We Collect
• 3. How We Collect Information
• 4. Cookies & Tracking Technologies
• 5. How We Use Your Information
• 6. Legal Bases for Processing
• 7. How We Share & Disclose Information
• 8. Data Retention
• 9. Data Security
• 10. Your Rights & Choices
• 11. Children’s Privacy
• 12. Third-Party Services & Links
• 13. International Data Transfers
• 14. Changes to This Policy
• 15. Contact Us

1. Introduction

CollegeSikta ("we", "our", "us") is an AI-powered educational technology platform designed to help Karnataka students prepare for the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) and make informed college-selection decisions. Our platform combines a data-backed college predictor, chapter-wise practice questions, weekly full-length mock tests, and performance analytics.

This Privacy Policy describes our practices regarding the collection, use, storage, sharing, and protection of personal information of visitors and registered users of the CollegeSikta website and its related services (collectively, the "Service"). By accessing or using our Service, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this policy. If you do not agree with any part of it, please do not use the Service.

We are committed to handling your information responsibly, transparently, and in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act) of India, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) where applicable, and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA) for eligible residents. This policy is intended to be consistent with all such laws and to give you control over your personal data.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information that you provide directly to us, information that is generated automatically when you use the Service, and, in limited circumstances, information about you obtained from third parties. Below is a detailed breakdown of each category.

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

• Account details: When you register, we collect your full name, email address, mobile phone number, password (stored as a securely hashed value), and your roll number or registration details.
• Academic and examination data: To offer personalised predictions and analytics, we collect details you choose to enter, including your KCET rank or anticipated rank, category (GM, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, SC, ST), regional quota, PCM or PCMC scores, nursing rank, and preferred branches.
• Subscription and payment information: If you purchase a subscription, our payment processors collect billing information such as your name, billing address, and payment instrument details. We do not store full card numbers on our servers.
• Communications: When you contact us for support, we retain your messages, your email address, and any other information you provide so we can respond and improve our assistance.
• User-generated content: This includes quiz answers, practice test responses, comments, saved colleges, wish-list entries, and other content you create within the Service.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

• Device and browser information: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, screen resolution, language preference, and device identifiers.
• Usage data: Pages visited, features used, test completion times, questions answered, time spent on the Service, click patterns, and referral URLs.
• Location data: Approximate geographic location derived from your IP address, used to tailor regional counselling guidance. We do not collect precise GPS location without your consent.
• Log data: Server logs that record requests, timestamps, error reports, and diagnostic information needed to maintain and secure the Service.

2.3 Information From Third Parties

We may receive de-identified or aggregate data from public examination authorities such as the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), which publishes cutoff lists and allotment statistics. This official data powers our college predictor. We may also receive limited information from analytics and advertising partners, survey providers, and referral sources. Where third-party data is linked to your identity, we treat it as personal information under this policy.

3. How We Collect Information

We collect information through the following channels:

• Direct submission: Information you type into signup forms, prediction forms, survey forms, or communication channels.
• Automatic collection: Information gathered through cookies, web beacons, server logs, and similar technologies as described in the next section, each time you interact with the Service.
• Customer support: Information shared during email, chat, or phone interactions with our support team.
• Public sources: Official, publicly available examination and counselling disclosure data published by authorities, which we use to build and refine prediction models.

We do not conduct any form of automated decision-making that produces legal effects without human involvement. Our college predictions are provided for guidance only and are never used to make legally significant decisions about you.

4. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

Cookies are small text files stored on your device that help websites remember your preferences and understand how visitors use the service. We use the following categories of cookies:

• Strictly necessary cookies: Required for core functionality such as user authentication, session management, CSRF protection, and security. These cannot be disabled without breaking the Service.
• Preference cookies: Remember your account session, language, display settings, and previously entered inputs so you do not have to re-enter them.
• Analytics cookies: Help us understand aggregate usage patterns so we can improve features, detect congestion, and prioritise development.
• Marketing cookies: Used, where enabled, to measure the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to serve more relevant messaging. These are subject to your consent where required.

We use Google Analytics and similar analytics services to measure traffic and engagement. These providers may use their own cookies and may collect information about your device and activity. You can control cookies through your browser settings, but note that disabling certain cookies may limit parts of the Service. For more control, you can adjust cookie settings directly in your browser preferences.

5. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• Providing the Service: Creating and managing your account, authenticating your login, saving your progress, and delivering prediction results, practice tests, and analytics.
• Personalisation: Tailoring college suggestions, weekly test recommendations, and study content to your rank, category, region, and goals.
• Improving our products: Analysing aggregate usage to debug errors, enhance prediction accuracy, optimise question difficulty curves, and design better user interfaces.
• Communication: Sending account notifications, test reminders, exam announcements, new-feature updates, and, where you have opted in, marketing communications. You may opt out of promotional messages at any time.
• Support and safety: Responding to support requests, investigating fraud or abuse, enforcing our Terms of Service, and protecting the security and integrity of the platform.
• Legal compliance: Fulfilling obligations under applicable law, such as responding to valid legal requests, preventing unlawful activity, and maintaining required records.
• Research and forecasting: Using aggregated and anonymised data to build educational research insights and improve counselling guidance for the student community.

6. Legal Bases for Processing

Depending on your location and the specific context, we process personal information on one or more of the following legal bases:

• Contract performance: Processing required to deliver the Service you have registered for and to honour the terms of your account.
• Consent: Processing you have affirmatively agreed to, such as receiving marketing communications or enabling optional cookies. You may withdraw consent at any time without affecting the availability of core services.
• Legitimate interests: Processing that is necessary for our legitimate interests, including security, fraud prevention, analytics, service improvement, and business continuity, provided your rights and interests do not override these interests.
• Legal obligation: Processing required to comply with tax, record-keeping, or other statutory duties.

7. How We Share & Disclose Information

We do not sell your personal information. We do not rent it, trade it, or exchange it for money or other consideration. We share information only in the limited circumstances described below:

• Service providers: With trusted vendors who help us operate the platform, including cloud hosting providers such as Supabase, email delivery services, analytics providers, and payment processors. These providers access only the data needed to perform their functions and are bound by confidentiality and data-protection obligations.
• Course and counselling partners: Only with your explicit consent, we may share limited details with partner institutions to help you with admissions counselling.
• Affiliates and business transfers: If we undergo a merger, acquisition, financing, or asset sale, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction under confidentiality terms, and this policy will continue to apply wherever reasonably possible.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose information to government authorities, courts, or regulators when required by law, court order, or a valid legal request, or when we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to protect rights, safety, or property.
• Aggregated or anonymised data: We may share statistics that do not identify you personally, such as "52% of aspirants in the GM category are predicted to secure ECE in a given college" or "average improvement in mock-test scores", for research, marketing, or partner reporting.

8. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this policy, to comply with legal obligations, to resolve disputes, and to enforce our agreements.

Specific retention practices include:

• Account data: Retained while your account remains active. When you request account deletion, we permanently remove your personal data and associated test history from our active systems within a reasonable period, subject to legal holds.
• Analytics logs: Retained in aggregated and de-identified form for up to 26 months to support product decisions.
• Communications: Support and transactional emails are retained for as long as needed to provide service and to meet legal record-keeping duties.
• Backups: Backup copies are retained for a limited recovery window and are subject to the same deletion obligations.

Where we no longer need personal data for the purposes for which it was collected, we delete it or render it anonymous. Please contact us if you want to know more about our retention schedules.

9. Data Security

Securing your information is a priority. We implement administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These include:

• Encryption in transit and at rest: All traffic to and from our servers is protected with TLS/HTTPS encryption, and stored sensitive data is encrypted at rest.
• Password protection: Passwords are stored only as salted, cryptographically hashed values. We never store plain-text passwords, and we encourage the use of strong, unique passwords.
• Access controls: Access to personal data is restricted to authorised personnel on a need-to-know basis, with role-based permissions and regular access reviews.
• Continuous monitoring: We monitor for unusual activity, attempted intrusions, and potential vulnerabilities, and we review security practices on an ongoing basis.
• Security updates: We keep our software stack patched and follow industry-standard secure development practices.

No method of transmission or storage can be guaranteed as completely secure. While we strive to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee absolute security, and we encourage you to help by not sharing your password and by logging out of shared devices.

10. Your Rights & Choices

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Right of access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification: Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure (right to be forgotten): Request deletion of your data, subject to legal exceptions.
• Right to restrict processing: Ask us to limit how we process your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability: Receive the data you provided in a structured, machine-readable format and transmit it to another provider.
• Right to object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests or to direct marketing.
• Right to withdraw consent: Withdraw any consent you previously gave, at any time.
• Right to non-discrimination: Under the CCPA/CPRA, we will not treat you differently for exercising your privacy rights.

How to exercise your rights

You can exercise many of these rights directly from your account settings page, including editing your profile and deleting your account. For anything else, contact us at collegesikta@gmail.com. We will verify your identity before acting on a request and typically respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

11. Children’s Privacy

CollegeSikta is intended for students and aspirants of the KCET, who are generally in the 16-to-19 age range. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13, and our Service is not directed to children under 13. If you are between 13 and 18 years old, we recommend that you use the Service with the consent and involvement of a parent or guardian.

If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13 without verified parental consent, we will promptly delete that information. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from a child under 13, please contact us immediately at collegesikta@gmail.com so we can take appropriate action.

12. Third-Party Services & Links

Our Service may contain links to external websites, payment gateways, social media platforms, and other third-party resources, including Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. These third parties have their own privacy policies, and we are not responsible for their practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party websites before providing them with your information. The inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement of the linked site or its content.

Where we integrate third-party software development kits (SDKs) for analytics or authentication, we ensure data-sharing relationships are covered by appropriate agreements and that such SDKs comply with applicable law. Over time we may add or remove such integrations, and we will keep this section reasonably updated.

13. International Data Transfers

CollegeSikta primarily serves students in India, and our primary infrastructure is hosted by cloud providers that may maintain data centres in India and other regions. When we transfer personal data across international borders, we take steps to ensure it receives an adequate level of protection, such as relying on recognised transfer mechanisms, standard contractual clauses, or the data subject’s informed consent, depending on the circumstances.

By using the Service, you understand that your information may be transferred to and processed in countries where data-protection regulations may differ from those in your country. We will always handle such transfers in compliance with applicable laws and this policy.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you by email or through a prominent notice on the Service before the changes take effect.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your information. Your continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised policy, except where separate consent is legally required.

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us through any of the following channels:

• Email: collegesikta@gmail.com
• Website: www.collegesikta.com
• Postal address: CollegeSikta, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

For the fastest response on privacy matters, please include "Privacy" in the subject line of your email. Our team typically reviews privacy inquiries within 2–3 business days and aims to respond fully within 30 days. If you remain unsatisfied, you have the right to contact the relevant data protection authority in your jurisdiction.

Thank you for trusting CollegeSikta with your preparation journey. We are committed to keeping your data safe, your experience personal, and your privacy protected.