Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy describes how BEKUU ("we", "us", or "our") collects, processes, stores, shares, and protects personal information obtained through our official website (bekuu.in), the BEKUU: Home Services customer mobile application, and the BEKUU Partner professional mobile application (collectively, the "Platform").

We are committed to data minimization and transparency. We collect only what is strictly necessary to facilitate local home service bookings, verify independent specialists, and fulfill statutory obligations under applicable Indian laws, including the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDPA).

2. Personal Data We Collect

The categories of information we collect depend on whether you interact with the Platform as a customer seeking home services or as an independent service professional:

A. Customer Information

• Account Authentication Data: Email address for secure One-Time Password (OTP) authentication. We do not store plaintext passwords. OTP verification codes are verified securely through HMAC-SHA256 digests.
• Profile & Contact Details: Full name and contact phone number. Phone numbers are collected during booking to allow the assigned technician to coordinate doorstep arrival.
• Service Addresses: Saved doorstep addresses, including locality, city, state, pincode, optional delivery instructions (e.g. "second floor, gate code"), and approximate GPS coordinates if location autofill is granted.
• Service Requests & Media: Problem descriptions submitted via text, transcribed voice queries, or attached diagnostic photos of the home repair issue.
• Booking & Transaction History: Records of scheduled bookings, agreed service scopes, approval decisions for extra work, digital invoices, and payments.

B. Independent Professional (Partner) Information

• Specialist Account Details: Business name, personal trade bio, years of verified experience, and preferred language (English, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi).
• Service Catalog & Custom Pricing: Services selected from the platform catalogue and the professional’s custom rates (minor units/paise) and pricing types (Fixed vs. Estimate).
• Service Area Coverage: Operating localities and pincodes in Belagavi.
• KYC & Verification Documents: Identity proof (e.g., Voter ID or Aadhaar) and optional trade qualification certificates. Important: We store only document images in private, encrypted cloud storage accessible via short-lived signed URLs. We do not extract or store raw national identification numbers.
• Operational Status & Location: Online/offline availability status and doorstep arrival confirmation timestamps.

C. Technical & Device Data

• Device & Notification Tokens: Push notification tokens (Expo Push Service) to deliver real-time booking updates, arrival alerts, and extra-work notices.
• Session Data: SHA-256 hashed refresh token session records, truncated user-agent strings, and request correlation IDs for diagnostic safety. We do not track browsing habits across unrelated third-party websites.

3. How We Use Your Information

We process personal data strictly for the following operational purposes:

• Facilitating discovery, comparison, and dispatch of local service bookings.
• Authenticating user sessions via secure OTP without requiring persistent passwords.
• Enabling doorstep arrival coordination between the customer and the chosen specialist.
• Administering the approval-first workflow for additional labor or parts.
• Generating digital receipts, invoices, and maintaining audit records for tax compliance.
• Reviewing independent technician qualifications to safeguard marketplace integrity.
• Responding to customer support tickets, dispute inquiries, or quality complaints.

4. Information Sharing & Disclosures

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to marketing brokers or third-party advertisers. Personal data is shared strictly as follows:

5. Data Storage, Security & Retention

• Hosting Location: All server infrastructure, database storage, and caching layers reside in Microsoft Azure Container Apps and managed database instances located in the Central India geographic region.
• Transmission Security: All web and API traffic is encrypted in transit using Transport Layer Security (TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3).
• Credential Minimization: Passwords are not used. OTP codes and refresh tokens are stored strictly as cryptographically secure one-way hashes (HMAC-SHA256 and SHA-256).
• Retention Periods: Active user records are retained while the account remains in service. When an account deletion is requested, personal profile attributes are soft-deleted or purged, while transactional records (booking invoices and payment ledgers) are retained for statutory periods mandated under Indian tax and commercial regulations.

6. Your Privacy Rights

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you have the right to:

• Access & Review: View your stored account details, addresses, and booking history within the app.
• Correction & Update: Update your profile, service areas, or phone number anytime in settings.
• Erasure & Deletion: Request full account and personal data deletion via our dedicated Account Deletion Procedure or by emailing privacy@bekuu.in.
• Grievance Redressal: Submit privacy concerns directly to our designated Grievance Officer.

7. Grievance Officer & Contact Details

In accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, inquiries or grievances regarding data processing may be addressed to: