Akshara - Library & Study Hall Management Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 27 July 2026

Akshara ("Akshara", "the Service", "we", "our" or "us") is developed, operated and maintained by Pingal IT Solutions. Akshara is a subscription software service that helps owners of libraries, study halls and reading rooms manage students, seats and shifts, monthly fees and dues, expenses, admissions and reporting.

This Privacy Policy explains what information Akshara collects, how it is used, who it is shared with, and the choices available to you. It applies to the Akshara web application, the public library pages and inquiry forms served from it, and to the Akshara mobile applications we intend to release in a future phase.

1. Who this policy is for

Two different groups of people are involved with Akshara, and the policy treats them differently:

• Library owners and staff ("Customers") — the people who subscribe to Akshara and log in to run a library. We deal with their information directly.
• Students and prospects ("End Users") — the people whose details a library records in Akshara, and people who submit an inquiry through a library's public page or QR code. Their information is entered and controlled by the library, and we process it on that library's instructions in order to provide the Service.

If you are a student and you want your information corrected or removed, please contact your library first — they control that record. You may also write to us and we will assist the library in acting on your request.

2. Information we collect

2.1 Account information

• Name, email address, phone number and password (stored only in hashed form)
• Business details of the library — name, address, contact numbers, and GSTIN where provided
• Profile photo or logo, if uploaded
• Staff and co-owner invitations, role assignments and permissions

2.2 Subscription and payment information

• Plan selected, subscription status, renewal dates and billing history
• Billing address and tax details for invoicing
• Transaction identifiers, payment status and mandate references returned by our payment gateway

We do not collect or store your card number, CVV, UPI PIN or net-banking credentials. Payments are processed by our payment gateway partner, and those details are handled under that provider's own security standards and privacy policy.

2.3 Information a library records about its students

Entered by the library, not by us:

• Name, photograph, phone number, email address and postal addresses
• Date of birth, gender, blood group and the examination or course being prepared for
• Parent, guardian and emergency contact details
• Identity and KYC documents the library chooses to upload
• Enrolment details — shift, seat, joining date, monthly fee, discounts and holds
• Fee invoices, payments, payment methods, receipts and any payment proof attached

2.4 Inquiry information from public library pages

• Name, phone number, email address and message submitted through a library's QR or public page
• Technical data collected to prevent spam and abuse, including IP address and submission timestamps

2.5 Technical and usage information

• Log data such as IP address, browser and device type, pages visited and timestamps
• Cookies and similar storage used to keep you signed in and to remember preferences such as your theme and selected library
• Records of significant actions taken inside an account (an activity log), used for accountability and support

2.6 Mobile applications (planned)

When the Akshara mobile applications are released, they may additionally process:

• Device identifiers and push notification tokens, so we can deliver alerts you have enabled
• Camera access, if you choose to scan a QR code or capture a document or photograph
• Photo library or file access, if you choose to upload an existing image or document
• Basic diagnostic and crash information, to fix faults in the app

Every permission is requested only when the related feature is used, and can be refused or withdrawn in your device settings. The apps will use the same account and the same data described in this policy; they do not create a separate collection of information.

3. How we use information

• To provide, operate and maintain the Service and the features you use
• To create and manage your account, staff invitations and permissions
• To generate fee cycles, invoices, receipts and reports for your library
• To process subscription payments, renewals and refunds, and to issue billing documents
• To send transactional messages — verification and password emails, payment confirmations, renewal notices, and the notifications you have switched on
• To provide customer support, including onboarding and troubleshooting
• To keep the Service secure — detecting fraud, abuse, spam and unauthorised access
• To understand which features are used and to improve the product
• To comply with tax, accounting and other legal obligations

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use student data to serve advertising.

4. Sharing and disclosure

4.1 Service providers

We share information with the providers who make the Service work — hosting and infrastructure, database and backup services, email and SMS delivery, our payment gateway, and error-monitoring tools. They may access information only to perform their function for us, under contract, and may not use it for their own purposes.

4.2 Business partners

We may share information held in Akshara — including library data and student data — with business partners we work with. These may include resellers and channel partners, onboarding, training and support partners, and organisations that offer complementary products or services to libraries and their students.

Where we do this:

• Partners are bound by written confidentiality and data-protection obligations before they receive anything.
• Partners may use the information only for the purpose it was shared for. They may not resell it, publish it, or repurpose it for unrelated ends.
• We share only the information relevant to that purpose, not an account's entire records by default.
• We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with unrelated advertising networks or data brokers.
• We require partners to apply security safeguards no weaker than our own, and to return or delete the information when the purpose ends.

Your choice: if you would prefer that your library's data is not shared with partners in this way, write to us at info@pingalit.com and we will record that preference on your account.

If you are a library: you are responsible for telling your students how their information is used, including this sharing, and for obtaining any consent the law requires from them or, where a student is a minor, from their parent or guardian.

4.3 Legal and safety disclosures

We may disclose information where we believe in good faith that it is necessary to comply with a law, regulation, court order or lawful request from a public authority; to enforce our terms; or to protect the rights, property or safety of Pingal IT Solutions, our customers or the public.

4.4 Business transfers

If Pingal IT Solutions is involved in a merger, acquisition, restructuring or sale of assets, information held in Akshara may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will give notice before your information becomes subject to a materially different privacy policy.

5. Data security

• Traffic between your browser or app and Akshara is encrypted in transit.
• Passwords are stored only as salted hashes, never in readable form.
• Every account's data is separated at the database level, so one library's records are not visible to another.
• Documents uploaded against a student are stored privately and served only to people authorised on that account.
• Access inside an account is limited by the roles and permissions the owner assigns, and significant actions are recorded in an activity log.
• Access by our own staff is restricted to those who need it for support, maintenance or security.

No system can be guaranteed completely secure. You are responsible for keeping your password confidential, for using a strong and unique password, and for removing staff access promptly when someone leaves.

6. Data retention

We keep account and library data for as long as your subscription is active. After a subscription ends, data is retained for a limited period so you can reactivate or export it, after which it is deleted or anonymised, unless a longer period is required for tax, accounting, legal or dispute-resolution purposes. Billing records are retained for the period required by Indian tax law. Backups are cycled on a rolling schedule and deleted data disappears from them as those backups expire.

7. Your rights and choices

• Access and correction — you can view and edit your account, library and student records inside the application at any time.
• Export — student records and reports can be exported to CSV from within the application.
• Deletion — you may ask us to delete your account and its data, subject to the retention rules above.
• Communication preferences — notification settings can be changed in the application. Essential service messages, such as payment and security notices, cannot be switched off while your account is active.
• Partner sharing — you may opt out as described in section 4.2.

To exercise any of these, write to info@pingalit.com from the email address registered on your account. Students should contact their library first, as the library controls their record.

8. Children's privacy

Akshara is a business tool for library owners and their staff, and is not directed at children. Accounts may only be created by adults.

A library may, however, record details of students who are minors. Where it does, the library is responsible for obtaining verifiable consent from a parent or guardian before entering that information, and for handling it in line with applicable law. We process such information only on the library's instructions.

9. Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies and local storage to keep you signed in, to protect forms against cross-site request forgery, to remember your selected library, and to remember display preferences such as light or dark theme. We do not use third-party advertising or cross-site tracking cookies in the application. Disabling cookies will prevent you from signing in.

10. Third-party services

Akshara relies on third parties for payment processing, message delivery, and hosting. Your interaction with those services is also governed by their own privacy policies. Public library pages may be opened from links or QR codes printed by a library; the library is responsible for where it displays them.

11. Where information is stored

Information is stored on servers operated by our infrastructure providers. Where information is processed outside India by a provider, we require appropriate contractual safeguards for its protection.

12. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to the Service, to our partners and providers, or to legal requirements. The revised policy will be posted on this page with a new "Last Updated" date. Where a change materially affects how we use information, we will give notice through the application or by email. Continuing to use Akshara after a change takes effect means you accept the revised policy.

13. Contact us

For any question about this Privacy Policy, about your data, or to exercise any of the choices described above:

Pingal IT Solutions
Website: https://pingalit.com
Email: info@pingalit.com
Address: Jaipur, Rajasthan, India