Privacy Policy

1Introduction & Scope

Institute Check (“Institute Check,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website, mobile applications and related services that allow students and parents to discover, compare and review coaching institutes, colleges, academies and training organizations, and that allow academies and training partners to create, manage and promote their listings (collectively, the “Platform” or the “Services”).

This Privacy Policy applies to all visitors, registered students, parents, academy partners and any other person who accesses or uses the Platform (each, a “User,” “you” or “your”). It describes what personal and non-personal information we collect, how and why we use, process and share it, the choices and rights available to you, and the safeguards we apply to keep it secure.

By creating an account, submitting a review, requesting a callback, registering for a mock test, or registering an academy, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any part of this Policy, please discontinue use of the Platform. This Policy should be read together with our Terms and Conditions, which govern your use of the Platform generally.

This Policy is framed with reference to applicable Indian data protection law, including the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP Act”). Confirm applicable regimes with counsel based on where your Users and infrastructure are located.

2Information We Collect

We collect information in three ways: information you provide directly, information collected automatically, and information we receive from third parties.

2.1 Personal Data You Provide

2.2 Student Review Verification

To protect the integrity of ratings on the Platform, we take reasonable steps to verify that a review was submitted by a genuine student, parent or Platform user before or after it is published. This may include:

• Confirming the reviewer’s mobile number or email address via OTP before a review is published;
• Cross-referencing the review against enquiry, callback or mock-test-registration records associated with the reviewed academy;
• Automated screening for duplicate accounts, bulk submissions, or other patterns consistent with fake or incentivized reviews; and
• Manual moderation of flagged or reported reviews by our trust & safety team.

Information collected for verification purposes (such as your verified contact details and, where applicable, your enquiry history with the reviewed academy) is used solely to confirm authenticity and enforce our Authentic Reviews Policy, and is not published alongside your review beyond what you have chosen to display on your public profile (e.g., display name or initials).

2.3 Usage Data

When you interact with the Platform, we automatically log data such as pages and listings viewed, search queries and filters used, links clicked, academy comparisons made, mock tests started or completed, time spent on pages, referring/exit URLs, and general interaction patterns.

2.4 Cookies & Tracking Technologies

We use cookies, local storage, pixels and similar technologies to operate the Platform, remember your preferences (such as your light/dark theme choice and login session), measure performance, and support analytics and advertising. Cookies we use generally fall into these categories:

• Strictly necessary — required for login, security and core functionality; cannot be disabled.
• Preference — remember settings like theme, city or exam-category filters.
• Analytics & performance — help us understand aggregate usage (e.g., Google Analytics or similar tools).
• Advertising / retargeting — used, where enabled, to show relevant ads on and off the Platform.

You can control cookies through your browser settings; disabling non-essential cookies may limit some features. Link to your Cookie Preference Center here, if applicable.

2.5 Device & Technical Information

We automatically collect technical information including IP address, approximate location derived from IP, browser type and version, operating system, device identifiers, screen resolution, and network/carrier information, primarily for security, fraud prevention, analytics and to serve a properly formatted experience.

3How We Use Your Information

• Account management — to create and administer your account, verify your identity, authenticate logins, and maintain your academy or partner profile.
• Delivering core services — to display academy listings, process reviews and ratings, run comparisons, deliver mock tests and score reports, and route callback/enquiry requests to the relevant academy or partner.
• Review verification — to confirm that reviews originate from genuine students and to detect and prevent fake, duplicate or incentivized reviews, as described in Section 2.2.
• Communication — to send transactional messages (confirmations, OTPs, security alerts, mock-test result notifications, service updates), respond to support requests, and, where you have opted in, send newsletters or promotional communications.
• Personalization — to tailor search results, recommendations and content based on your location, browsing history and stated preferences (e.g., preferred exam category or city).
• Marketing & advertising — with your consent where required by law, to show relevant offers, promotions and advertisements, including retargeting on third-party platforms; you may opt out at any time as described in Section 6.
• Analytics & product improvement — to monitor performance, diagnose technical issues, conduct research, and improve existing features and build new ones.
• Trust & safety — to detect and prevent fraud, fake reviews, spam, abuse and violations of our Terms and Conditions.
• Legal compliance — to comply with applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request, and to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

4Data Sharing & Third Parties

We do not sell your personal data. We share information only in the following circumstances:

• With academies & partners — when you submit a callback request, enquiry, or register for a mock test tied to a specific academy, we share the relevant contact and enquiry details with that academy so it can respond to you.
• Service providers & vendors — we engage third parties to perform functions on our behalf, including hosting and cloud infrastructure, payment processors (to process payments securely; they receive only the data needed to complete a transaction), SMS/email/OTP delivery providers (including for review verification), customer support tooling, and analytics providers to help us understand and improve usage of the Platform.
• Publicly visible content — reviews, ratings, display names/initials and academy listings you submit are, by design, visible publicly on the Platform and may be indexed by search engines.
• Corporate transactions — if we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to standard confidentiality protections.
• Legal & safety requirements — where we believe in good faith that disclosure is required to comply with a law, regulation, court order or governmental request, to protect the rights, property or safety of Institute Check, our Users or the public, or to detect, prevent or address fraud, security or technical issues.
• With your consent — for any other purpose disclosed to you at the time of collection and with your consent.

Third-party service providers are contractually required to use your information only to provide services to us and to maintain appropriate confidentiality and security standards. A current list of key sub-processors and categories of third-party service providers is available on request at privacy@institutecheck.com.

International Transfers

Some of our service providers (for example, cloud hosting or analytics vendors) may process or store data outside your country of residence. Where personal data is transferred internationally, we take steps required under applicable law to ensure it receives an adequate level of protection.

5Data Security & Retention

We implement reasonable technical and organizational security measures designed to protect your information, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and, where appropriate, at rest;
• Hashed and salted password storage — we never store your password in plain text;
• Role-based access controls limiting internal access to personal data on a need-to-know basis;
• Regular monitoring, logging and security review of our systems; and
• Vendor security review for third parties who process data on our behalf.

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we become aware of a breach affecting your personal data, we will notify you and any applicable regulator as required by applicable law.

Data Retention

We retain personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Services, and thereafter for as long as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and for legitimate business purposes, after which it is securely deleted or anonymized. Indicative retention periods:

6Your Rights & Choices

Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Right to access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to correction — ask us to correct or update inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to deletion / erasure — request deletion of your account and associated personal data, subject to any legal or legitimate business reason we may need to retain certain records.
• Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent (e.g., marketing communications), withdraw it at any time without affecting processing already carried out.
• Right to data portability — request your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format, where applicable.
• Right to opt out of marketing — unsubscribe from promotional emails/SMS using the link or instructions in each communication, or by contacting us directly; you will continue to receive essential transactional messages.
• Right to grievance redressal — raise a complaint with our Grievance Officer (Section 9) or, if unresolved, with the applicable data protection authority.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@institutecheck.com. We may need to verify your identity before actioning a request, and we will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law.

7Children’s Privacy

We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from children below the applicable age of consent without appropriate parental or guardian consent. Where features are designed for students who may be minors (such as browsing academy listings or taking mock tests), account registration and any submission of personal data must be completed by, or with the verifiable consent of, a parent or legal guardian.

If we become aware that we have collected personal data from a child without the requisite consent, we will take steps to delete that information promptly. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data without appropriate consent, please contact us at privacy@institutecheck.com.

8Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices, technology, legal requirements or other factors. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page and, where required by law or where changes are significant, provide additional notice (such as an in-app notification or email). We encourage you to review this Policy periodically. Your continued use of the Platform after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.

9Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please reach out using the details below.