1. Scope of This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how India News Grid may collect, receive, use, store, disclose, process, and protect personal data in connection with its website, submission flows, newsletters, editorial operations, communications, events-related pages, and related services. This Policy applies to users, readers, contributors, submitters, organisational representatives, advertisers, and other persons interacting with the platform.

By accessing or using India News Grid, or by submitting any information to the platform, you acknowledge this Privacy Policy and agree that your information may be processed as described here, subject to applicable law. This Policy should be read together with the Terms and Conditions and any specific notices displayed at the point of collection.

2. Nature of the Platform and Privacy Position

India News Grid operates as a digital publishing and discovery platform. Depending on the feature being used, India News Grid may act as a publisher, service provider, platform operator, or recipient of information submitted by users and organisations. India News Grid is not responsible for the independent privacy practices of third parties, external websites, advertisers, social platforms, payment processors, analytics tools, embedded media providers, or linked services.

Where users submit personal data relating to third parties, including names, contact details, quotations, images, designations, or biographies, the submitter remains solely responsible for ensuring that such submission is lawful and appropriately authorised.

3. Information We May Collect

India News Grid may collect information that you provide directly, including your name, organisation name, designation, email address, phone number, location details, billing details, submission content, images, videos, logos, social links, event details, and any correspondence or documents you send to the platform.

India News Grid may also collect technical and usage information, including IP address, browser type, device information, approximate location data, referral source, pages viewed, timestamps, clicks, interactions, diagnostics, cookies, similar technologies, and other platform telemetry generated when you access or use the website.

In limited cases, India News Grid may receive information from third-party sources such as advertising tools, analytics providers, sign-in services, communication vendors, social media platforms, or business partners where such sharing is enabled by law or your settings.

4. How We Use Information

India News Grid may use personal data to operate and improve the platform; review, edit, publish, or reject submissions; communicate with users; manage newsletters and subscriptions; provide support; process transactions; enforce policies; detect abuse, fraud, or security incidents; maintain platform integrity; perform analytics; personalise certain experiences; comply with law; and establish, exercise, or defend legal rights.

India News Grid may also use submitted contact and organisational information in connection with editorial review, publication workflows, fact-sensitivity review, rights verification, complaint handling, moderation, or internal record-keeping.

5. Legal Basis and Indian Law Context

India News Grid intends to process digital personal data for lawful purposes in accordance with applicable Indian law, including the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, along with applicable rules, notifications, and governmental directions issued from time to time.

Where consent, notice, legitimate use, contractual necessity, or legal obligation is required or recognised under applicable law, India News Grid may rely on such basis to the extent available and appropriate in the circumstances. Nothing in this Privacy Policy shall be interpreted as creating obligations beyond those imposed by applicable law or by express written commitment of India News Grid.

6. Cookies, Analytics, and Similar Technologies

India News Grid may use cookies, pixels, local storage, session technologies, analytics tools, and similar identifiers to recognise devices, maintain sessions, understand traffic, measure engagement, improve performance, prevent misuse, and support advertising or promotional measurement where applicable.

Your browser or device may allow you to control cookies or similar technologies. Disabling such technologies may affect certain platform features, functionality, or personalisation. India News Grid does not guarantee that all third-party tracking technologies can be blocked through platform-level controls.

7. Newsletters, Communications, and Marketing

If you subscribe to newsletters or provide your contact information, India News Grid may send editorial updates, service notices, submission-related messages, administrative communications, policy updates, and promotional or marketing communications where permitted by law.

You may opt out of non-essential promotional emails using the unsubscribe mechanism provided in the message or by contacting India News Grid. Even if you opt out of promotional communication, India News Grid may still send transactional, legal, editorial, security, or account-related messages where necessary.

8. Sharing and Disclosure of Information

India News Grid may share information with employees, editors, contractors, consultants, affiliates, hosting providers, analytics vendors, communication vendors, legal advisers, payment or billing partners, advertising partners, security providers, and other service providers to the extent reasonably necessary for operating the platform or fulfilling lawful business purposes.

India News Grid may also disclose information where required to comply with law, court order, governmental request, regulatory direction, rights-enforcement process, fraud-prevention need, security incident response, or protection of India News Grid, its users, personnel, partners, or the public.

If India News Grid is involved in a merger, acquisition, restructuring, sale of assets, financing, or similar corporate transaction, information may be disclosed or transferred as part of that process subject to applicable law.

9. User Submissions and Published Content

Users may voluntarily submit personal and organisational information for publication in press releases, articles, founder stories, event pages, contact sections, author profiles, images, captions, or other public-facing content. Once published, such information may become publicly accessible and may be indexed, cached, copied, quoted, archived, or referenced by search engines, AI systems, media databases, third-party websites, and other users.

India News Grid is not responsible for the actions of third parties who access, reuse, scrape, redistribute, summarise, cache, or archive publicly available content after publication. Requests to edit or remove published material will be considered in accordance with applicable law, platform policy, editorial considerations, and legitimate rights claims, but removal from India News Grid does not guarantee removal from third-party systems.

10. Data Retention

India News Grid may retain information for as long as reasonably necessary for editorial operations, legal compliance, dispute resolution, fraud prevention, record-keeping, security, analytics, contractual performance, or other legitimate platform purposes. Retention periods may vary depending on the nature of the data, the context of collection, applicable law, and operational needs.

India News Grid may retain backup copies, logs, archival records, internal review materials, and evidentiary records even after content is unpublished, an account is inactive, or a communication preference changes, where such retention is reasonably necessary or legally required.

11. Security

India News Grid may use reasonable administrative, technical, organisational, and physical safeguards designed to protect information from unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, misuse, or destruction. However, no website, platform, network, database, email transmission, or storage system can be guaranteed to be fully secure.

Accordingly, India News Grid disclaims, to the fullest extent permitted by law, any warranty or representation that personal data will always remain secure or inaccessible to unauthorised persons, and India News Grid shall not be liable for security incidents, interceptions, system failures, or unauthorised access except to the extent liability cannot be excluded under applicable law.

12. International or Cross-Border Processing

India News Grid or its service providers may process or store information on servers or systems located in India or outside India, subject to applicable law and service arrangements. By using the platform and providing information, you acknowledge that information may be processed in jurisdictions with data protection standards that differ from those of your location.

13. Rights, Requests, and Corrections

Subject to applicable law, you may request access to, correction of, updating of, or deletion of certain personal data, or withdraw consent where processing is based on consent. India News Grid may require reasonable verification of identity, authority, and scope before acting on a request.

India News Grid may decline, limit, or defer a request where legally permitted, where the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, where the data is required for legal compliance or defence of claims, where publication-related rights or public-interest considerations apply, or where verification is inadequate.

14. Children and Minors

India News Grid does not knowingly seek to collect personal data from children in violation of applicable law. Where the platform receives data relating to a child, processing may be subject to additional legal requirements, parental or guardian involvement, or lawful exceptions recognised under applicable law.

If you believe that personal data relating to a child has been submitted unlawfully to India News Grid, you should contact the platform promptly with relevant details so the matter can be reviewed.

15. Third-Party Links and Embedded Services

The platform may contain links to third-party websites or may embed third-party media, maps, videos, forms, advertising tools, or social widgets. India News Grid does not control these third-party environments and is not responsible for their content, availability, security, or privacy practices. Your interaction with third-party services is governed by their own terms and privacy policies.

16. Changes to This Privacy Policy

India News Grid may update this Privacy Policy at any time by publishing a revised version on this page. Changes become effective upon publication unless a later effective date is stated. Continued use of the platform after the effective date of an updated Privacy Policy constitutes acknowledgment of the revised Policy.

17. Contact and Privacy Requests

For privacy-related questions, correction requests, consent-related communication, or legal notices concerning personal data, please contact India News Grid through the contact details published on the platform. India News Grid may ask for sufficient information to verify the request and evaluate the applicable legal position before taking action.