Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

This website, protocol.org.in, and Protocol’s courses, coaching and corporate training programmes are operated by Protocol, a partnership firm registered under the Indian Partnership Act, 1932 (GSTIN 29AAJFP2705N1ZT), with its office at 399/1, 7th Cross, First Floor, Ashoka Pillar Road, Jayanagar 1st Block, Bengaluru 560011, Karnataka, India.

For the purposes of India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP Act”) and its rules, Protocol is the Data Fiduciary for the personal data described in this policy. This policy applies whenever you visit our website, contact us, enrol in a course or coaching programme, or take part in training we deliver for your organisation.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us

• Enquiries and demo bookings — your name, phone number, email address, the course or service you are interested in, your organisation (if relevant) and any message you send us, whether through our website forms, WhatsApp, phone or email.
• Enrolment — the details needed to register you for a course or coaching programme, and billing details (such as a company name and GST number) where an invoice is needed.
• During training — attendance, pre-assessment and feedback forms (including how you heard about Protocol), and notes your trainer or coach makes to track your progress.
• Corporate programmes — participant names, work email addresses and attendance, shared with us by your employer so that we can deliver the programme.

Information collected automatically

When you use our website we collect technical information such as your IP address, device and browser type, the pages you visit, how you move around a page, and the website or advertisement that brought you to us. This is collected through cookies and similar technologies — see Cookies and tracking.

What we do not collect

We do not ask for, or collect, your card or bank account details, passwords or government ID numbers through this website.

3. How we use your information

We use your personal data only for clear, specific purposes:

• To respond to you — to answer your enquiry, book your free demo class or pre-assessment, and follow up by phone, WhatsApp or email.
• To deliver our services — to run your course, coaching sessions or corporate programme, track attendance and progress, arrange make-up sessions and issue your certificate.
• To keep you informed — to tell you about batch timings, new courses and events. You can opt out of these messages at any time.
• To improve our website and advertising — to understand which pages are useful and to measure how well our advertisements work.
• To meet legal obligations — for invoicing, tax and accounting records, and to establish or defend legal claims.

We rely on your consent — which you give when you submit a form or message us — and on the other lawful grounds permitted under the DPDP Act, such as fulfilling a service you have asked for or complying with the law. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time; this will not affect anything we did before you withdrew it.

4. Cookies and tracking

Cookies are small files stored on your device when you visit a website. We use the following types:

• Essential — needed for the website to work and stay secure, for example to protect our forms from spam. These cannot be switched off.
• Analytics — Google Analytics (through Google Tag Manager), Microsoft Clarity and Contentsquare help us understand how visitors use our pages, including anonymised recordings of clicks and scrolling. We configure these tools not to capture what you type into forms.
• Advertising — Google Ads and the Meta Pixel tell us when someone who clicked one of our advertisements goes on to contact us, and may be used to show you relevant Protocol advertisements on other websites.
• Embedded content — our WhatsApp chat button, Google Maps, YouTube videos and Google reviews may set their own cookies when they load.

You can delete or block cookies at any time in your browser settings, and ask us to stop using your data for analytics or advertising by writing to info@protocol.org.in. You can also manage advertising preferences directly with Google and Meta. Blocking some cookies may affect how parts of the website work.

5. Who we share it with

We do not sell or rent your personal data. We share it only when needed, and only with:

• Our trainers and coaches, who need your details to deliver your course or coaching.
• Service providers who help us run Protocol — including website hosting, form, email and automation tools, Google (analytics, advertising, maps and workspace tools), Meta (WhatsApp and advertising), Microsoft Clarity and Contentsquare. They may process your data only on our instructions and for these purposes.
• Your employer, for corporate programmes — typically attendance, participation and completion information.
• Authorities, where we are required to by law, or to protect our rights, our participants or the public.

Some of our service providers store data on servers outside India. Where this happens, the transfer is made in line with the DPDP Act and any restrictions notified by the Government of India.

6. How long we keep it

We keep personal data only for as long as we need it for the purposes in this policy. Enquiry details are kept while we are in touch with you and deleted when they are no longer needed. Participant records are kept so that we can verify certificates and respond to questions about your course. Invoices and accounting records are kept for the period required under Indian tax law. When data is no longer needed, we delete or anonymise it.

7. How we protect it

We use reasonable security safeguards to protect your data — including encrypted (HTTPS) connections, restricted access for our team, security monitoring on our website and secure, access-controlled accounts with our service providers. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but if a personal data breach affects you, we will inform you and the Data Protection Board of India as the law requires.

8. Your rights

Under the DPDP Act, you have the right to:

• Access a summary of the personal data we hold about you and how we use it.
• Correct, complete or update your personal data.
• Erase your personal data, unless we need to keep it for a legal reason.
• Withdraw your consent, including to marketing messages and non-essential cookies.
• Raise a grievance with us, and have it resolved.
• Nominate another person to exercise these rights on your behalf in the event of death or incapacity.

To use any of these rights, email info@protocol.org.in with the subject “Data request”. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on a request, and we will respond within the time required by law. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

9. Participants under 18

Some of our courses are open to participants aged 16 and above. If you are under 18, we need the consent of your parent or legal guardian before we process your personal data, and they should be involved in your enrolment. We do not knowingly track participants under 18 for advertising, or target advertisements at them. If we learn that we have collected a child’s data without the required consent, we will delete it.

10. Photos, videos and testimonials

We sometimes take photos or videos during sessions, or ask participants for feedback we can share. We will only use your photo, video, name or testimonial in our marketing with your consent, and you can ask us to stop using it at any time.

11. Links to other websites

Our website links to other websites and platforms, such as Google, WhatsApp, YouTube and social media. We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices, so please read their privacy policies.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be on this page, with the date it was last updated at the top. If we make significant changes, we will make that clear on our website.

13. Grievance Officer and contact

If you have a question or complaint about how we handle your personal data, please contact:

Please also read our Terms & Conditions.