1. What this policy covers
1.1 Your right to erasure. Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (the "DPDP Act"), you have the right to have your personal data erased when it is no longer needed for the purpose it was collected for, or when you withdraw your consent. This is sometimes called the "right to be forgotten". This policy explains how to use that right on the Path Saathi platform, operated by Path Saathi Private Limited (CIN U58110MH2026PTC469991).
1.2 Scope. This policy applies to your single Path Saathi account and the personal data linked to it across every Path Saathi product, website and app. Read it together with our Privacy Policy, which explains what data we collect, why, and how long we normally keep it.
2. How to request deletion
Send an email to hello@pathsaathi.com with the subject line "Data deletion request". Please send it from the email address linked to your account, or include your registered mobile number, and tell us:
- Your full name as it appears on your Path Saathi account;
- Your registered mobile number (the one you sign in with) and, if you have one on your account, your email address;
- What you want deleted: your whole account and all its data, or only specific data (for example your résumé or a document you uploaded); and
- Your reason, if you would like to share it. This is optional and does not affect your request.
2.1 Do not send documents. Please do not attach your Aadhaar, other identity documents or passwords to the email. We will never ask for your password or one-time code (OTP) by email.
3. Verifying your identity
To protect you from someone else deleting your account, we check that the request comes from you before acting on it. We may send a one-time code to your registered mobile number, or ask you to confirm the request from your registered contact details. If we cannot verify the request, we will tell you and will not delete anything.
4. The 30-day grace period
4.1 Confirmation. Once your request is verified, we email you to confirm it. The confirmation states the date on which your data will be permanently deleted, which is 30 days after the confirmation date, and tells you which data, if any, we must keep by law (see section 6).
4.2 During the 30 days. Your account is deactivated. You cannot sign in, and we stop using your data for courses, job matching, communications and any other purpose, except to keep it safe until deletion.
4.3 Rolling back your request. If you change your mind, email hello@pathsaathi.com within the 30 days with the subject line "Cancel data deletion request", from the same registered contact details. We will verify the request, restore your account as it was, and confirm by email. Nothing is lost if you roll back within the 30 days.
5. Permanent deletion after 30 days
5.1 Deletion is final. When the 30 days end, we permanently delete your account and personal data from our systems. After this point your data cannot be recovered or restored, and the request cannot be rolled back. If you want to use Path Saathi again later, you will need to create a new account.
5.2 Backups. Copies held in our secure backups are overwritten as part of the normal backup cycle. They are never restored for use in the meantime, except to recover from a security incident, in which case your deletion is applied again straight away.
5.3 Our processors. We also instruct the service providers who process data on our behalf (listed in section 7 of the Privacy Policy) to delete your data.
5.4 Timelines. We will complete your request, including the 30-day grace period, within the time allowed by the DPDP Rules, and in any case within 90 days of receiving it. We will email you when deletion is complete.
6. What we may keep, and why
Some records must be kept by law even after you ask for deletion. We keep only what is required, for only as long as it is required, and use it only for that legal purpose. Section 9 of the Privacy Policy sets out our retention periods.
| Data | Why we keep it |
|---|---|
| Payment, invoice and tax records | Tax and company law require us to keep them, generally for at least 8 years. |
| Enrollment, attendance and assessment records for government or funded programmes | The programme or funding agency requires them for audit. Where possible, we de-identify them so they no longer identify you. |
| Certificates and their verification records | So a certificate you earned stays verifiable. You can ask us to stop public verification, and we will. |
| Security, access and processing logs | The DPDP Rules require us to keep them for at least one year to detect and investigate incidents. |
| Records of your request | A minimal record that you asked for deletion and when, so we can show we acted on it. |
| Data needed for a legal claim, investigation or lawful order | Only for as long as that matter requires. |
| Anonymised data | Data that can no longer identify you is not personal data, and it may be kept. |
7. Data held by others
- Your college, training centre, employer or programme authority. If you use Path Saathi through an Organisation, it may hold its own copy of your programme records, and it may be the one that decides what happens to that data. We will pass your request on to it and help it respond.
- Employers you applied to. Employers who received your profile when you applied for a job handle that copy as independent data fiduciaries. Please contact them directly to have it deleted.
- People you shared a certificate with. Once public verification is stopped, a shared certificate link or code will no longer show your details.
8. Other options besides full deletion
You do not have to delete your whole account to control your data. You can also ask us to:
- Delete specific data, such as your résumé or an uploaded document, while keeping your account;
- Correct or update data that is wrong or out of date;
- Withdraw a specific consent, such as promotional messages or sharing your profile with employers; or
- Stop public verification of a certificate.
Send these requests to hello@pathsaathi.com in the same way. They are not subject to the 30-day grace period unless you ask for it.
9. Requests on behalf of someone else
- Children. A parent or lawful guardian may request deletion of the data of a child under 18. We will verify both the guardian and the relationship before acting.
- Persons with a lawful guardian. The guardian may make the request in the same way.
- Nominees. If you have nominated someone under the DPDP Act, they may request deletion if you die or become unable to make the request yourself. We will ask for reasonable proof.
10. Questions and grievances
For questions about this policy or a request you have made, email hello@pathsaathi.com. If you are not satisfied with how we handled your request, you can raise a grievance with our Data Protection Officer as described in sections 15 and 17 of the Privacy Policy. After using our grievance process, you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India.
Post: Path Saathi Private Limited, 5th Floor - 501, Interface 11, Off Malad Link Road, Near Malad West, Malad West, Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban, Maharashtra 400064.
Read this together with our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.