Privacy Policy

Expert Chowk ("we", "us", "our") operates the marketplace at expertchowk.com that connects developers, architects, studios, freelancers, engineers, contractors and skilled labour across India. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect when you use our website and mobile applications, how we use it, who we share it with, and the rights you have over it.

We comply with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP) and the Information Technology Rules, 2021.

We collect the following categories of personal data:

• Account data — name, email, phone number, password hash, role and city.
• Verification data — PAN, Aadhaar, GST number, RERA, CoA, IE licence and contractor/labour licences, depending on your role.
• Profile content — portfolio images, project descriptions, ratings and reviews you publish.
• Transactional data — billing address, GSTIN, invoice history, subscription tier.
• Usage data — pages visited, search queries, click events, device type, IP address and approximate location (city-level).
• Communication data — messages sent through our platform, including project briefs, bids and support tickets.

• To create and manage your account and verify your identity.
• To match developers with relevant professionals and surface qualified bids.
• To process payments, generate GST invoices, and prevent fraud.
• To send transactional notifications (verification status, project updates, payment receipts).
• To improve our products through aggregated analytics. We never sell raw data to third parties.
• To comply with legal obligations, court orders or tax record-keeping requirements.

We share personal data only with:

• Other users on the platform — your public profile, ratings and portfolio are visible to logged-in users. Contact details are revealed only after a mutual handshake.
• Service providers — payment processors (Razorpay), cloud hosting (AWS in ap-south-1), email delivery, and analytics. Each is contractually bound to use data only as instructed.
• Authorities — when compelled by valid Indian legal process, such as a court order, GST notice, or law-enforcement request that meets statutory thresholds.

We never sell your personal information.

We use first-party cookies for authentication and to remember your preferences. We use one analytics cookie to measure aggregated traffic patterns. You can disable cookies in your browser, but the site will not work fully signed-in without them.

We retain personal data only for as long as needed:

• Active account data — until you delete your account.
• Verification documents — 5 years after account closure (for fraud audits).
• Transactional records — 7 years (Income Tax Act, GST law).
• Marketing emails — until you unsubscribe.

We use industry-standard encryption (TLS 1.3 in transit, AES-256 at rest), password hashing with argon2, and least-privilege access controls. No system is perfect; if we ever discover a personal-data breach, we will notify you and the Data Protection Board within 72 hours.

As a Data Principal you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erase data we no longer need to keep.
• Withdraw consent for non-essential processing.
• Nominate another person to exercise your rights in case of incapacity.
• File a grievance with our Grievance Officer (see below) and, if unresolved, with the Data Protection Board of India.

Expert Chowk is intended for users 18 years and older. We do not knowingly collect data from minors. If you believe we have, please write to us and we will delete it.

Your data is stored on AWS servers in Mumbai (ap-south-1). Limited operational data may be processed outside India by sub-processors (e.g. email delivery). We rely on standard contractual clauses to ensure equivalent protection.

We may update this Privacy Policy. Material changes will be notified via email and a banner on the site at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.