Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

The Indian Archive helps families search traditional family records and registers in India, understand findings, and preserve a family archive. The website is indianarchive.com. You can contact us at namaste@indianarchive.com.

The Indian Archive is an independent heritage research service. It is not a government service and is not affiliated with the Government of India or any government body.

Our registered office is at Office 4, Acorn Business Centre, Ablewell Street, WS1 2EG, Walsall, United Kingdom.

2. Information we collect

We may collect the following information:

• Account details: name, email address, login method, country/location and contact preferences.
• Contact details: email, phone number and WhatsApp number where provided.
• Case details: package selected, order details, customer status and case reference.
• Family and ancestral information: names, relationships, dates and places of birth, marriage and death, places of origin, family stories, family tree entries, and information about living or deceased relatives.
• Questionnaire answers.
• Uploaded documents, photographs, screenshots, certificates, letters, identity or context documents, audio recordings and other materials provided by the customer.
• Audio interview content and transcripts if the customer uses audio features.
• Research outputs: notes, register findings, translations, transcriptions, family tree summaries, final archive drafts and final archive PDFs.
• Payment and order information: payment status, amount, currency, package, refund status and payment provider references. We do not store full card details; card payments are handled by payment providers such as Stripe.
• Referral information if a referral code is used.
• Technical information: IP address, browser and device information, cookies, analytics events, security logs and usage data.

3. Sensitive family information

Family-record research may involve information that is personal or sensitive, including details about family relationships, religion, community, caste or social background, births, deaths, marriages, locations, migration, and ancestral records. Customers should only provide information they are authorised to share or are comfortable sharing for the purpose of family-record and heritage research.

4. How we use information

• Create and manage customer accounts.
• Process orders and payments.
• Open and manage cases.
• Understand the family line being researched.
• Assign and support India-based researchers, priests and purohits, field workers, translators and transcribers, and administrative reviewers where needed.
• Search, transcribe, translate and summarise available records.
• Build or refine a customer family tree and family archive.
• Produce and deliver final archive material.
• Communicate about the case.
• Handle support, clarification requests, feedback and complaints.
• Prevent fraud, abuse, unauthorised access and security issues.
• Improve the service and website.

5. Lawful basis

• Contract: to provide the service the customer orders.
• Legitimate interests: to run, improve and protect the service, manage cases, support customers and prevent misuse.
• Consent: where customers choose to provide optional information, audio, documents or marketing and referral permissions.
• Legal obligation: where we need to keep records for tax, accounting, fraud prevention, regulatory or dispute purposes.

6. Who we share information with

We do not sell personal information. We may share relevant information with:

• Researchers in India.
• Priests, purohits or record holders where necessary to locate or update relevant registers.
• Field workers assisting with a case.
• Translators, transcribers and administrative reviewers.
• Payment processors such as Stripe.
• Hosting, storage, authentication, email, analytics, support and security providers.
• Professional advisers where required.
• Authorities where legally required.

Only the information reasonably needed for the task should be shared.

7. International processing

Because the service involves family-record research in India, relevant case information may be processed by people or service providers in India and other countries. We take reasonable steps to protect information and limit access to what is needed for the case.

8. How long we keep information

• Account and order records are kept while the account or case is active and as needed for legal, accounting or dispute purposes.
• Case research materials and final archive materials may be kept to preserve customer access unless deletion is requested and there is no overriding reason to retain them.
• Support messages and logs may be kept for operational and security reasons.
• Customers can request deletion, but some records may need to be retained for legal, accounting, security or dispute reasons.

9. Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect information, including controlled access, role-based permissions, secure storage and limited sharing. No online service can be guaranteed completely secure.

10. Cookies and analytics

We may use necessary cookies for login, checkout, security and site operation. We may also use analytics or similar tools to understand site usage and improve the service. Where a cookie banner or cookie settings are available on the site, please refer to those for current choices.

11. Customer rights

Depending on applicable law, customers may request access, correction, deletion, restriction, objection, portability, or withdrawal of consent where consent is the basis. To exercise these rights, contact namaste@indianarchive.com.

12. Complaints

Customers can contact us first at namaste@indianarchive.com. UK customers may also complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.

13. Children

The service is intended for adults. We do not knowingly allow children to create accounts or place orders. Family information about children should only be provided by someone with appropriate authority.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time and will update the last updated date above.

See also our Terms of Service.