Privacy Policy

What this policy covers

This Privacy Policy explains what information Vishnu Balachandran's website ("this site") collects, why, and what choices you have. This is a plain-language policy for a personal portfolio and booking site, not a substitute for legal advice for your own situation.

Information we collect

We collect only what's needed to operate the site:

• Account information: the name, email address, and a securely hashed password (never stored in plain text) you provide when creating an account. An account is needed to book consultancy, take a course quiz or manage software licences; it is not needed to buy a course.
• Consultancy bookings: the time slot you selected, an optional message, and payment status (pending/confirmed), tied to your account.
• Course and software purchases: the email address you enter (or your account email), the fixed price charged, any promo code, and payment status (paid/failed). A course purchase made without an account also stores a random claim code that lets you attach it to an account later. A receipt is emailed as a service message about that purchase, and the claim code is still shown on screen. We never see or store your card details — payment is handled entirely by Razorpay's own checkout, which runs in its own secure window and passes us only a payment confirmation.
• Article contributions: the email address and amount you enter when optionally supporting an article, with payment status and the time it was paid, tied to your account (or a guest account created from that email). We never see or store your card details — same Razorpay checkout as courses.
• Admin account: if you're the site administrator, your email and a securely hashed password.
• Cookies: a cookie-consent preference, your login session cookie, a per-course access token (only if you've purchased a paid course), and — for the administrator only — a separate admin session cookie. See our Cookie Policy for details.

Third-party processors we use, and why: Razorpay processes course and optional article-contribution payments (they receive your card/payment details directly; we never do), Supabase hosts our database, Vercel hosts the application, Resend delivers purchase and contribution receipts and stores mail received for the admin inbox, and Brevo delivers booking messages and the newsletter confirmation. A copy of each outbound service message goes to the site admin. Received inbox bodies stay at Resend and are not copied into our database. We don't use any third-party advertising or analytics trackers. These messages are about the transaction or the subscription you asked for. Marketing campaigns are not sent without recorded consent.

How we use it

Account and booking information is used solely to authenticate you, schedule and follow up on the session you booked, grant access to courses you've purchased, and record optional article contributions. It is not sold, rented, or used for marketing without your separate consent.

Where it's stored

Data is stored in a managed PostgreSQL database (hosted by Supabase) and served by an application hosted on Vercel. Both providers process data on our behalf under their own security and privacy commitments.

Why we process it, and your consent

We process your personal data only for the purposes described above, on the basis of your consent (for example when you create an account, make a booking or submit a form) or for a legitimate use such as completing a purchase you asked for, keeping accounting records, and keeping the site secure. You can withdraw your consent at any time by deleting your account or writing to us; withdrawing does not affect what was lawfully done before.

How long we keep it

Account details are kept while your account exists. Payment, booking and contribution records are kept as long as needed for accounting and legal obligations; when you delete your account, your name, email and phone are removed from those records. Contact-form messages and newsletter sign-ups are kept until you ask us to remove them.

Your rights, including data deletion

Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 you have the right to access a summary of your personal data, to have it corrected or completed, to have it erased, to nominate another person to exercise these rights on your behalf if you die or cannot act, and to have your grievance addressed.

• Delete your account yourself: sign in and open Delete my account. This erases your login and personal details immediately. Accounts with an upcoming booking, and the administrator account, cannot be deleted online; write to us and we will handle it.
• Anything else (access, correction, erasure without an account, withdrawing consent, or a complaint): contact our privacy contact at vishnubalachandran596@gmail.com. We aim to respond within 30 days.

If we do not resolve your grievance, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India once it is operational.

Security and data breaches

Passwords are stored only as salted hashes, payments are handled by Razorpay, traffic is encrypted, and each account can see only its own records. If a personal data breach affects you, we will tell you and the Data Protection Board of India as the law requires, describing what happened and what you can do.

Children's data

This site is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18, and we do not track or profile children. If you are under 18, please do not create an account or make a purchase; a parent or guardian can do so for you. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.

The Temple Accounts app has its own privacy policy.

Changes

We may update this policy as the site evolves. Material changes will update the "Last updated" date above.