Privacy Policy

1. Introduction & Commitment to Privacy

Welcome to Grounded. We respect your privacy and are deeply committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, and protect your information when you visit our website or purchase our consumables. This document is strictly compliant with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA), 2023, and the Information Technology Act, 2000 of India. By using our website, you explicitly consent to the collection and processing of your data as described below.

2. The "No Data Selling" Guarantee

Let us be absolutely clear: Grounded will never sell, rent, lease, or trade your personal data to any third-party data brokers, marketing agencies, or advertisers. The data you share with us is used exclusively to fulfill your order, improve our artisanal consumables, and communicate directly with you.

3. What Data We Collect & Why (Purpose Limitation)

We practice strict data minimization. We only collect the personal data absolutely necessary to process and deliver your food products:

• Identity & Contact Data: Name, email address, shipping address, and phone number. Purpose: To process your order, print shipping labels, and send you delivery updates.
• Transaction Data: Order history, items purchased, and transaction IDs. Purpose: For accounting, processing refunds (if applicable under our strict terms), and customer support.
• Technical Data: IP address, browser type, and device information. Purpose: To ensure our website functions correctly, secure our platform against fraud, and load checkout pages smoothly.

4. Payment Gateway Security & Financial Data Isolation

Grounded does not collect, process, or store your raw payment credentials.

• All electronic transactions are routed through our RBI-authorized, PCI-DSS compliant third-party payment processor (Razorpay).
• When you enter your credit card number, debit card details, or UPI PIN, that data goes directly to Razorpay's encrypted servers. Grounded never sees, touches, or stores your financial information. Our liability regarding financial data breaches is therefore fully separated and deferred to the payment gateway.

5. Who We Share Your Data With

To operate our e-commerce store, we must share specific pieces of your data with highly trusted third-party service providers. These include:

• Logistics & Delivery Partners: (e.g., BlueDart, Delhivery, Swiggy Genie) who need your name, address, and phone number to physically deliver your consumables.
• Payment Processors: (e.g., Razorpay) to securely authorize your payment.

Note: We mandate that our operational partners only use your data to fulfill their specific service to Grounded and are legally barred from using it for their own independent marketing.

6. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

Our website uses essential first-party cookies to remember what items are in your cart, keep you logged in during checkout, and monitor website crashes. We do not use invasive third-party tracking pixels to monitor your browsing behavior across other unrelated websites. You can disable cookies in your browser settings, but doing so may prevent you from checking out successfully.

7. Data Retention & Security

• Security: We utilize industry-standard encryption (HTTPS/SSL) to protect data transmitted between your browser and our servers.
• Retention: We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy, resolve disputes, and comply with mandatory Indian tax and accounting laws. Once the retention period expires, your data is securely deleted or anonymized.

8. Your Rights as a Data Principal (Under DPDPA 2023)

Under Indian law, you have specific rights regarding your personal data. You have the right to:

• Access: Request a summary of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Ask us to fix inaccurate or incomplete shipping or contact details.
• Erasure (Right to be Forgotten): Request that we permanently delete your personal data from our systems, provided that retaining it is no longer required for legal, tax, or active order fulfillment purposes.
• Withdraw Consent: Withdraw your consent for non-essential communications (like email newsletters) at any time.

9. Grievance Officer & Contact Information

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or have a privacy grievance, please contact our designated Data Protection / Grievance Officer:

• Company Name: Grounded
• Grievance Officer: [Insert Name]
• Email Address: [Insert Email]
• Registered Address: Pune, Maharashtra, India.

We will acknowledge all privacy-related requests within 48 hours and resolve them within the timelines mandated by law.