Privacy policy

Srivatshava Chits Private Limited (“Srivatshava Chits”, “we”, “us”) respects your privacy. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we protect it, and the choices and rights you have. It applies to this website and to information you share with us by WhatsApp, phone, email, social media or at our office.

We handle personal data in line with Indian law, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, the Information Technology Act, 2000 and its rules, and the record-keeping rules of the Chit Funds Act, 1982.

1. Notice for enquiries on WhatsApp and the website

This is what we collect when you send an enquiry through our website form or message us on WhatsApp, and why.

• Your consent. On our website form you agree by ticking a box before WhatsApp opens. When you message us on WhatsApp directly, you agree by sending the message. News of new schemes needs a separate, optional yes.
• Withdrawing consent is as easy as giving it. Reply STOP on WhatsApp to stop news of new schemes, or use the privacy request form to ask us to stop using or delete your enquiry details.
• How long we keep it. If you do not join a chit, we delete your enquiry details within 12 months of our last conversation.
• WhatsApp. WhatsApp is run by Meta, which carries the messages between you and us under its own privacy policy. We read and answer your messages on our office WhatsApp Business account, used only by authorised staff. We do not add you to broadcast lists or WhatsApp groups without your consent.
• Please never send identity documents or bank details on WhatsApp unless our office has asked for them as part of joining. We will tell you the secure way to share them.

2. Other information we collect

When you visit this website

• No account, no sign-up. You can read every page without telling us who you are.
• No advertising or tracking cookies. We do not use cookies to follow you across websites or show you advertisements.
• Visitor statistics. We may use privacy-friendly statistics that count page visits and general device type without identifying you or storing cookies.
• Security logs. Our hosting provider automatically processes technical information such as IP address and browser type, to deliver the website and protect it from attacks.

When you join a chit scheme

To enrol you as a subscriber, as required by law and our chit agreement, we collect information such as your name, address, date of birth, photograph, a masked copy of your Aadhaar (with only the last four digits visible), a copy of the GST registration certificate if you are registered for GST, bank account details, nominee details, details of your sureties and, where needed, documents such as property papers placed as security. We do not ask for or keep your full Aadhaar number; if an unmasked copy is handed to us by mistake, we mask it before filing. We collect these at our office or through secure channels we tell you about.

3. Why we use your information

• To reply to your enquiry and help you choose a scheme;
• To enrol you, run your chit, conduct auctions, pay prize amounts and dividends, and send receipts and reminders. For schemes beginning on or after 1 April 2027, we use your mobile number (mainly on WhatsApp) and email address to send digital receipts, due-date reminders, auction updates and statements;
• To meet our legal duties, including record-keeping under the Chit Funds Act, 1982, tax and KYC requirements, and returns to the Registrar of Chits; and
• To keep this website secure and working well.

We use your information only for these purposes. We do not sell, rent or trade personal information, and we do not use it for advertising by others.

4. Your consent and our legal duties

For enquiries and optional updates, we rely on your consent, which you can withdraw at any time. When you join a scheme, we process your information to perform the chit agreement and to comply with the law; we cannot stop using information that the law or your chit agreement requires us to keep. Withdrawing consent does not affect anything done before it.

5. Who we share information with

• Authorities such as the Registrar of Chits, tax authorities or courts, when the law requires it;
• Banks and payment providers, to receive subscriptions and pay prize amounts;
• Service providers who help us run our business, such as our website host, under confidentiality obligations;
• Services you choose to use, such as WhatsApp (Meta) when you message us, and Google Maps on our contact page. These services have their own privacy policies;
• Other members of your chit scheme, to the extent the Chit Funds Act requires, for example in the minutes of each auction, which members may inspect;
• Your sureties, where they need to know your remaining liability;
• Auditors, lawyers and our professional advisers, and, if subscriptions are not paid, those who help us recover them; and
• Financial Intelligence Unit-India and other authorities, where the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 or other laws require reports.

Information about sureties and nominees

When you give us details of a surety or a nominee, please make sure they know and agree. We use their information only for your chit, and we tell sureties how their information is handled when they sign.

Outside India

Some service providers, such as WhatsApp and Google, may process information on servers outside India. Where this happens, it is done as permitted under Indian law. Members living abroad who contact us also send information from outside India.

6. How long we keep it

We delete enquiry details within 12 months of our last conversation if you do not join. We keep subscriber records for the period required by the Chit Funds Act, 1982, tax laws, the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 (at least five years after the relationship ends) and other applicable laws, and then delete or anonymise them securely.

7. How we protect it

We follow reasonable security practices to protect personal information. These include encrypted (HTTPS) connections for this website, an in-house subscriber system with individual staff logins and access limited to authorised staff, an office WhatsApp Business account used only by authorised staff, and secure storage of physical documents at our office. Bank account information and identity documents are handled with extra care.

If a personal data breach ever occurs, we will inform the Data Protection Board of India and the people affected without delay, as the law requires, and tell you what happened, what it may mean for you and what we are doing about it.

8. Your rights

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you have the right to:

• ask what personal information we hold about you and how we use it;
• ask us to correct, complete or update it;
• ask us to erase it, where we are not required to keep it by law or by your chit agreement;
• withdraw consent you have given;
• nominate another person to exercise your rights if you are unable to; and
• raise a grievance with us, and if you are not satisfied with our response, complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

9. Children

This website is meant for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18 through this website. Where a minor is involved in a chit, for example as a nominee, we deal only with their parent or lawful guardian.

10. Complaints to the Data Protection Board

If you are not satisfied with how we handle your request or complaint, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India, after first raising it with our Grievance Officer.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be on this page, with the date it was last updated.