Privacy Policy

This policy applies to this website and to the enquiries you send us through it — by email or through the WhatsApp links on our pages. It describes what personal data we collect, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it and what you can ask us to do with it.

It does not apply to other companies’ websites or services we link to, or to conversations you have with third parties such as courier companies, whose own policies govern those interactions.

In this policy, “personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual, and terms such as “data fiduciary”, “data principal” and “processing” carry the meanings given to them in the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (the “DPDP Act”).

Saanjh Sitara (“Saanjh Sitara”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is a small-batch handloom saree label. We operate this website and decide why and how the personal data described here is processed, which makes us the data fiduciary in respect of it.

You can reach us at contact@saanjhsitara.com or on WhatsApp at +91 70118 49219.

Information you give us. This site has no accounts, no shopping cart and no checkout, so you can browse the entire catalogue without telling us anything about yourself. You share information only when you choose to contact us about a piece. Depending on what you write, that may include:

• your name, and the phone number or email address you use;
• your WhatsApp profile name and photo, if you message us there — this is shown to us by WhatsApp;
• the sarees you ask about, and your preferences on colour, occasion, drape or blouse;
• a delivery address, alternate contact number and any special delivery instructions, if you go on to place an order;
• billing details such as a name and, where you ask for a GST invoice, a GSTIN;
• anything else you volunteer in the conversation, including photos you send us.

Information collected automatically. Like almost all websites, ours records technical information when you visit: your IP address and the approximate city it suggests, your device type, operating system and browser, screen size, the page that referred you, the pages you view, the filters you apply on the collection page, how long you stay, and the date and time of your visit.

Information from other sources. We may receive delivery status updates from courier partners, and aggregated, non-identifying audience statistics from our analytics provider. If you tag or message us on a social platform, we see whatever that platform shows us.

What we deliberately do not collect. We do not take card numbers, CVVs, UPI PINs, net-banking credentials or OTPs on this website — there is no payment gateway on it. We do not ask for government identifiers such as Aadhaar or PAN in order to browse or enquire. We do not seek sensitive categories of data such as health, religion, caste or biometric information, and we ask that you do not send them to us.

Cookies are small files a site stores on your device. We use them sparingly, in two categories:

• Strictly necessary. A session cookie that keeps our own team signed in to the private admin area used to manage the catalogue. It is never set for ordinary visitors and carries no information about you.
• Analytics. Cookies and identifiers set by Google Analytics 4, which tell us how many people visit, which pages and collections they look at, and roughly where they are — in aggregate.

We do not use advertising, re-targeting or social-media tracking cookies, and we do not run cross-site advertising pixels.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, browse in a private window, or install Google’s opt-out browser add-on. Blocking analytics cookies does not affect how the site works. Where your browser sends a “Do Not Track” or global privacy signal, we do not attempt to override it.

• To answer you. Responding to your enquiry, sharing availability, measurements, pricing and photographs.
• To fulfil an order. Confirming what you have chosen, arranging payment separately, packing, invoicing, dispatching and following up on delivery.
• To provide after-sales care. Handling questions, exchanges, repairs and complaints.
• To improve the site and the collection. Understanding in aggregate which pieces and categories draw interest, so we can weave and photograph better.
• To keep things secure. Detecting misuse, fraud and technical faults, and protecting our systems.
• To meet legal obligations. Tax, accounting, consumer-protection and record-keeping requirements, and responding to lawful requests.
• To send updates you asked for. Only where you have told us you would like to hear about new arrivals.

We rely on your consent for analytics and for any marketing updates; on the necessity of performing a contract with you (or taking steps at your request before one) for enquiries and orders; and on compliance with law for our tax and record-keeping duties. Where we rely on consent you may withdraw it at any time, and doing so does not affect processing carried out before the withdrawal.

We do not sell your personal data. We do not rent or trade contact lists. We do not use your data to build advertising profiles, and we do not make decisions about you by automated means alone.

We share personal data only where there is a reason to, and only to the extent needed:

• Google (Firebase and Google Cloud) — hosting, our product database and image storage. Our servers hold the catalogue; enquiry correspondence sits in our email and WhatsApp accounts.
• Google Analytics — website usage measurement, as described above.
• WhatsApp (Meta)— if you contact us there, the conversation is carried on WhatsApp’s infrastructure and is also governed by its privacy policy.
• Courier and logistics partners — the name, address and phone number needed to deliver your parcel.
• Professional advisers — accountants or lawyers, in confidence, where we need advice.
• Authorities — where disclosure is required by law, by a court, or to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.
• A successor — if the business is reorganised, sold or merged, data may pass to the new owner under the same protections, and we will tell you if that changes anything material.

We require our service providers to use the data only for the purpose we engaged them for, and to keep it secure. We do not disclose your personal data to any other third party for their own marketing.

Our hosting, analytics and messaging providers are global services and may store or process data on servers outside India, including in the United States and the European Union. Where that happens we rely on the contractual and technical safeguards those providers offer, and we transfer only what the service requires. Transfers are made in accordance with applicable Indian law, including any restrictions the Central Government notifies under the DPDP Act.

• Enquiries that do not lead to an order — kept while the conversation is live and for a reasonable period afterwards, in case you come back to us, then deleted.
• Order and invoice records — kept for as long as tax, GST and accounting law requires, which is generally several years from the end of the relevant financial year.
• Complaints and grievance records — kept for as long as needed to resolve the matter and to show we handled it properly.
• Analytics data— retained on our analytics provider’s default schedule, in a form that does not identify you to us.

When data is no longer needed for the purpose it was collected for, and no legal obligation requires us to keep it, we delete it or anonymise it.

The site is served entirely over HTTPS. Our catalogue database is reachable only from our own server, never directly from your browser, and administrative access to it is password-protected with a session token rather than a simple flag. Access to enquiry correspondence is limited to the people who need it to serve you. Our infrastructure providers maintain their own physical and network security controls.

No website, email account or messaging service can be guaranteed completely secure, and information you send us over the internet travels at your own risk. If a breach affecting your personal data does occur, we will act promptly to contain it and will notify you and the Data Protection Board of India as the law requires.

Please help us by not sending payment credentials, passwords or one-time passwords to us in any message.

Subject to applicable law, including the DPDP Act, you may ask us to:

• confirm and access — tell you whether we hold personal data about you, what we do with it, who we have shared it with, and give you a summary;
• correct or complete — fix anything inaccurate, misleading or incomplete, and update what is out of date;
• erase — delete personal data we no longer need for the purpose it was collected for, unless the law requires us to keep it;
• withdraw consent — stop processing that rests on your consent, including analytics and marketing;
• nominate — name another individual to exercise these rights on your behalf in the event of your death or incapacity;
• complain — have your grievance heard by us, and escalate it if you are not satisfied.

Write to contact@saanjhsitara.com and tell us what you would like. We may need to ask a question or two to confirm who you are before we act, so that we do not disclose your information to someone else. We will respond within a reasonable period and in any event within the time the law allows. You are also expected, under the DPDP Act, to give us accurate information and not to raise false or frivolous complaints.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

We do not add you to a mailing list simply because you enquired. If you have asked to hear about new arrivals, you can stop those messages at any time by replying “stop” on WhatsApp, using the unsubscribe link in an email, or writing to contact@saanjhsitara.com. We will still send you the messages needed to deal with an order you have placed, such as dispatch and delivery updates.

This website is intended for adults and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under the age of 18, and we do not track children, serve them advertising or use their data for any purpose. If you believe a child has sent us personal data, please contact contact@saanjhsitara.com and we will delete it promptly.

Our pages link to third-party services, including WhatsApp. Selecting such a link takes you to a service we do not control. We are not responsible for its content, security or privacy practices, and this policy does not apply there — please read the relevant provider’s policy before sharing information with it.

We may update this policy as our practices, our tools or the law change. The version published on this page is the version that applies, and the “last updated” date at the top shows when we last revised it. Where a change materially affects how we use your personal data, we will make that clear on this page and, where the law requires, seek your consent afresh.

For any question, request or complaint about your personal data, contact us at contact@saanjhsitara.com or on WhatsApp at +91 70118 49219, marking your message “Privacy” so it reaches the right person quickly.

We aim to acknowledge privacy requests and grievances within 48 hours and to resolve them within the period allowed by law. If you remain dissatisfied, you may escalate the matter to the Data Protection Board of India.