Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Karwa & Associates ("we", "us", "our" or "the Firm") is a Chartered Accountancy firm based in Jaipur, India, serving clients across India and internationally since 1991. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting the personal and professional information you share with us.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect through our website, engagement forms, communications and professional service delivery, how we use it, whom we share it with, and the rights you have over it. This policy applies to visitors, prospects and clients of the Firm.

We follow applicable Indian laws including the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the rules made thereunder, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (once notified in full), the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 and the ICAI Code of Ethics. Client data received in the course of professional engagements is additionally covered by our duty of client confidentiality.

2. Information We Collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of information:

• Contact information — name, email address, phone number, business name, designation and the message you send us through the contact or consultation forms.
• Engagement information — details required to render our professional services, such as PAN, GSTIN, TAN, CIN, Aadhaar (where legally required), financial statements, tax returns, bank statements, invoices, contracts, incorporation documents and any related supporting records.
• Website usage data — IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, referring URLs, the pages you visit, time spent and interactions with the site, collected via cookies, server logs and analytics tools.
• Communications — emails, WhatsApp / phone messages, meeting notes and any correspondence exchanged with the Firm.
• Tools usage — inputs you enter into our free calculators and utilities (Advance Tax, TDS/TCS, RCM, Prepaid Expenses, Kagaz, Bahi, Milaan, Rakam). Where a tool runs in your browser only, that data does not reach our servers.

We do not knowingly collect sensitive personal data such as caste, religious or political views, biometric data, or sexual orientation unless it is strictly required by law or by a specific engagement scope agreed with you in writing.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect strictly for the following purposes:

• To respond to enquiries, schedule consultations and provide the professional services you request.
• To prepare, file, review and represent tax returns, audits, appeals, GST filings, IPO advisory documents and other statutory or advisory deliverables.
• To meet our own legal, regulatory and ICAI reporting obligations, including record keeping mandated under Indian tax and company law.
• To send you engagement communications, invoices, timely updates on tax and compliance changes, and, only where you have opted in, occasional newsletters or advisory notes.
• To keep the website secure, prevent fraud and misuse, and continually improve its content, structure and user experience.
• To detect, investigate and respond to security incidents or violations of our terms.

We do not sell or rent your personal data, and we do not use it for automated profiling or advertising to third parties.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

We rely on the following legal bases to process your personal data:

• Consent — when you fill in our contact form, sign an engagement letter or opt in to updates.
• Performance of a contract — to deliver the professional services agreed in your engagement letter.
• Legal obligation — to comply with the Income Tax Act, GST law, Companies Act, ICAI regulations and other statutes.
• Legitimate interests — to run and improve our practice, secure our systems and communicate with clients about matters they have engaged us on.

5. Disclosure & Sharing

We treat client information as strictly confidential. We share personal data only with:

• Authorised partners and staff of the Firm on a need-to-know basis for delivering your engagement.
• Tax authorities, GST portals, MCA, stock exchanges (for IPO work), auditors, banks and other statutory or regulatory bodies as required to complete filings and representations on your behalf.
• Trusted service providers such as email hosting, secure cloud storage, portal software, contact form and analytics providers, each bound by confidentiality obligations.
• Legal advisors, courts, tribunals and law enforcement agencies where disclosure is required or permitted by law.

We do not sell, trade or rent your personal information to any third party for marketing purposes.

6. Cookies & Tracking

Our website uses a small number of cookies and similar technologies to make it work well and understand how it is used:

• Essential cookies — required for the site to function - for example remembering your day / night theme preference and unlock state for phone numbers.
• Analytics cookies — help us understand which pages are useful and where visitors need better content. These are anonymised where possible.
• Local storage — used to remember interface choices on your own device, without being transmitted to us.

You can disable cookies in your browser settings at any time, though some parts of the site may not work as intended.

7. Data Security

We follow reasonable and industry-standard technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction. These include:

• HTTPS encryption for all traffic to and from our website.
• Access control and role-based permissions inside the Firm.
• Secure storage of client documents on trusted, access-controlled cloud infrastructure.
• Confidentiality obligations covering every partner, employee and contractor.
• Bot-protection on public phone numbers to prevent scraping and autodialer misuse.

No system is completely secure. While we work hard to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security, and you share information with us at your own responsibility.

8. Data Retention

We retain your information only for as long as is necessary for the purpose it was collected and to comply with our legal and professional obligations:

• Enquiry and consultation form submissions - typically up to 24 months, unless they lead to a client engagement.
• Engagement records, working papers and financial documents - retained for the period mandated under Indian tax, company and ICAI rules, generally 8 years, or longer where litigation or scrutiny is pending.
• Website analytics data - typically 14 to 26 months, in aggregated or anonymised form.

Once retention periods expire, information is securely deleted or anonymised.

9. Your Rights

Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights over the personal information we hold about you:

• Access — request confirmation of what we hold and a copy of it.
• Correction — ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or out of date.
• Erasure — ask us to delete your data where we are not legally required to retain it.
• Withdrawal of consent — opt out of marketing communications or withdraw consent for optional processing.
• Grievance redressal — raise concerns with our Grievance Officer named below.

To exercise any right, please write to our Grievance Officer with reasonable proof of identity. We aim to respond within 30 days.

10. Children’s Privacy

Our services are intended for businesses, professionals and adult individuals. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If we learn that we have inadvertently collected such data, we will delete it promptly.

11. Third-Party Links

Our website may contain links to third-party sites (for example government portals, ICAI, banks, WhatsApp). We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. We recommend reviewing their privacy policies before sharing any information.

12. International Transfers

We are based in India and primarily process data within India. Some of our service providers (for example email and cloud storage) may store or process data in other jurisdictions. Where this happens, we ensure appropriate contractual and security safeguards are in place.

13. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, technology or our services. The revised policy will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. Significant changes will be highlighted or communicated separately to clients.

14. Contact & Grievance Officer

For any questions, requests or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please reach out to:

Karwa & Associates
15, Jaimal Singh Market, Near Minerva Cinema, Agra Road, Jaipur - 302003
Phone: 0141-2603671-72
Email: anshul@karwaandassociates.com
Alternate email: karwaca@yahoo.com

Please mark the subject line "Privacy - Grievance" so we can route your request to the correct desk.