Privacy Policy & Data Protection Charter
Effective Date: October 18, 2026 • Published in compliance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act 2023), the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules.
At B-School Buddy, we respect your privacy and handle your academic journey data with institutional-grade integrity. We operate as an educational discovery and preparation platform. We strictly do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to non-academic commercial lead brokers. Your contact details and academic profile are processed strictly for personalized roadmap generation, mock performance benchmarking, and sharing with relevant, accredited business schools for genuine admissions guidance and counselling facilitation.
1Legislative Scope & Legal Framework
This Privacy Policy applies to all services, web portals, mobile interfaces, mock test engines, and admission counselling features provided by B-School Buddy (“we”, “us”, “our”, or “Platform”). This document constitutes an electronic record under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and its applicable rules, and conforms with the statutory provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act).
By registering, accessing, browsing, or utilizing any feature of B-School Buddy, you (“Data Principal” or “Student”) acknowledge that you have read, comprehended, and unconditionally accepted the terms outlined in this Privacy Policy.
2Categories of Personal Data Collected
To deliver personalized MBA mentorship, simulated entrance examination analytics, and accurate institutional matches, we collect the following categories of information:
Full name, verified mobile phone number (authenticated via SMS One-Time Password / OTP), email address, city, and state of residence.
Class 10th & 12th marks/percentage, undergraduate degree discipline, CGPA/marks, years of full-time work experience, targeted MBA entrance examinations (CAT, XAT, NMAT, SNAP, CMAT, etc.), and simulated mock test scorecards.
Shortlisted colleges, MBA specialization interests (Finance, Marketing, Consulting, Operations, Business Analytics), scholarship/financial aid requests, and stage-wise application tracker logs.
IP address, device hardware model, browser user agent, session cookies for authentication, and timestamped mock examination telemetry (time per question, question status flags).
3Lawful Grounds & Purposes of Data Processing
Pursuant to Sections 4 and 6 of the DPDP Act 2023, B-School Buddy processes personal data exclusively on the basis of informed, explicit consent and specified legitimate educational uses, including:
- Personalized Recommendation Engine: Calculating profile compatibility, expected cut-off percentiles, and institutional matches across 150+ business schools.
- CBT Examination Simulation: Generating full-length mock examinations, administering timed computer-based tests, calculating percentile distribution, and rendering detailed analytics.
- Application Milestone Tracking: Sending notifications regarding registration deadlines, admit card publications, GD-PI call updates, and masterclass dates.
- Academic Mentorship & Counseling: Connecting candidates with verified academic counsellors to resolve admission doubts, SOP preparation, and profile building.
- Fraud Prevention & Security: Authenticating candidate mobile credentials via OTP to prevent duplicate accounts, unauthorized automated scraping, and platform abuse.
4Explicit Notice & Consent for Institutional Admissions Guidance & Contact Sharing
Please review this section carefully. By registering an account, submitting an inquiry, or expressing interest in any educational program on B-School Buddy, you provide your unambiguous, affirmative consent to the following:
4.1 Data Transfer to Relevant Institutions: To facilitate direct educational guidance, eligibility assessment, application facilitation, and scholarship evaluation, B-School Buddy is expressly authorized to share your contact details (including full name, verified mobile number, email address, academic qualifications, and target exam percentiles) with relevant, accredited business schools, partner universities, and authorized academic counsellors.
4.2 Scope of Institutional Communication: Participating institutions and academic counsellors are authorized to contact you through voice calls, SMS, WhatsApp, and electronic mail solely for educational guidance, admission eligibility discussions, course details, campus preview sessions, fee waiver/scholarship updates, and application support.
4.3 Waiver of Telemarketing Registry Claims (TRAI / NDNC Exemption): You explicitly acknowledge that sharing your contact details constitutes a requested educational service transaction. You expressly consent to receiving institutional phone calls, WhatsApp messages, and SMS notifications from B-School Buddy and relevant academic partner institutions, and you expressly waive any right to claim violation under the National Do Not Call (NDNC) registry, TRAI regulations, or telemarketing guidelines for these bona fide educational communications.
4.4 Strict Non-Monetization / Non-Sale Guarantee: B-School Buddy does not sell, rent, monetize, or lease your personal records to third-party telemarketing lead brokers, financial product pushers, or untargeted spam advertisers. All institutional data transfers are limited strictly to bona fide higher-education institutions and admission counsellors.
5Data Storage, Encryption & Security Architecture
We enforce rigorous administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction:
- Encryption Standards: All data in transit is protected using Transport Layer Security (TLS 1.3). Sensitive credentials and user tokens are encrypted at rest using industry-standard AES-256 encryption.
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Administrative access to student data is compartmentalized. Counsellor and academic administrators are strictly limited to their operational scope and do not possess uninhibited database export or delete privileges.
- Data Sovereignty: All primary student records and telemetry are hosted within secure cloud infrastructure located within the Republic of India in full accordance with national data residency regulations.
6Data Principal Rights under DPDP Act 2023
Under Chapter III of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you hold enforceable statutory rights as a Data Principal:
7Cookies, Local Storage & Session Management
We utilize essential cookies and secure browser local storage mechanisms strictly for:
- Maintaining authenticated user sessions without requiring repeated OTP logins during active periods.
- Saving candidates’ shortlists, comparison matrices, and mock test answer states in real-time.
- Evaluating interface responsiveness and system latency to optimize test-delivery speed.
We do not utilize cross-site tracking pixels or commercial ad retargeting cookies from external behavioral networks.
8Data Retention & Disposal Policies
Personal data is retained only for the duration required to satisfy the educational admission cycle for which you registered (typically 12 to 24 months, aligning with CAT, XAT, and admission rounds), or until you submit a verified account deletion request. Upon expiry of this operational window or upon receiving an approved erasure request, your identifiable records are permanently deleted or irreversibly anonymized for aggregate benchmarking research.
9Modifications to this Privacy Charter
B-School Buddy reserves the right to amend, update, or revise this Privacy Policy to reflect evolving regulatory guidance, statutory notifications under the DPDP Act, or new feature rollouts. Substantial modifications will be prominently highlighted on the platform and notified via registered email. Continued use of the platform following the publication of revisions constitutes active acceptance.
10. Grievance Redressal Officer & Statutory Communications
In accordance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the designated Grievance Redressal & Data Protection Officer for B-School Buddy is:
Statutory Response Timelines: We acknowledge all privacy grievances within 48 business hours and resolve submitted requests within statutory timelines of receiving complete verification documentation.