Privacy Policy & Terms

Who we are

VASSIWA MSME's Welfare Association ("VASSIWA", "we", "us") — formerly the Visakha Autonagar Small Scale Industrialists Welfare Association — Reg. No. 550/90, Autonagar, Visakhapatnam – 530012, Andhra Pradesh, India, operates the public website and the Member Portal for its members, staff, and Executive Board. This policy describes what information we collect, why, and how it is handled.

Information we collect

Depending on your role and how you use the site and Portal, we hold:

• Identity and contact details: name, email, mobile number, address, profile photo.
• Business information: company name, GSTIN, UDYAM registration details, and other business-profile fields you choose to add.
• Membership records: membership status, plan, payment history, receipts, and payment proofs you upload.
• Wallet/advance balance, where applicable.
• Attendance records, RFID card identifiers, and your membership barcode.
• Event registrations and any documents you upload to the Portal.
• Public enquiries submitted through the website: name, company, mobile number, email, enquiry details, and category — see "Public website enquiries" below.
• VASSIWA Connect activity, if you use it: your Business Profile, Business Enquiries you post or respond to, quotations/responses, Business Referrals, Skilled Manpower Requirements, news submissions, Industrial Area Alerts, and ratings you give or receive.
• Queries and complaints you submit, and their resolution history.
• Authentication, session, and security/audit information (e.g. login times, actions taken by Staff/Board on your account) needed to keep the system secure and accountable.
• Standard technical information collected by any website: IP address, browser type, and pages visited, used only for security and site reliability — we do not use advertising or third-party tracking cookies.

Public website enquiries

Submitting the public "Submit an Enquiry" form does not create a Member Portal account. Your enquiry is stored separately from member data and reviewed by VASSIWA staff; it is not automatically visible to VASSIWA members. If your enquiry becomes a genuine business requirement, staff may (with the same information you submitted) post it to VASSIWA Connect for members, or contact you directly using the details you provided.

How we use your information

We use this information solely to operate the Society's membership, attendance, payment, and VASSIWA Connect systems; to respond to public enquiries; to verify your identity for events and attendance; to process and record payments; to communicate with you about your membership; and to let VASSIWA Connect features (business enquiries, referrals, manpower requirements, alerts) work as intended among members. We do not use your information for advertising or sell it to third parties.

Who can see your information

We do not sell your personal information. Access within VASSIWA is restricted to authorized Staff, Executive Board Members, and Super Admin, based on what each role genuinely needs to perform their duties. Content you post to VASSIWA Connect (your Business Profile, enquiries, referrals, manpower postings, ratings) is visible to other authenticated VASSIWA members, since that visibility is the purpose of those features. Public website enquiries are visible only to VASSIWA staff, never to other website visitors or to members automatically.

Sharing with third parties

We share information only with service providers who help us operate the Portal (database, authentication and file storage — Supabase; payment processing, once connected — PhonePe), each of whom processes data only as necessary to provide their service to VASSIWA. We may also share information where required by law — for example, in response to a court order, government request, or to investigate suspected fraud. We do not share your information for marketing purposes with any third party.

Third-party links

The website and Portal may contain links to third-party websites (for example, member business listings). This policy does not apply to those sites, and we are not responsible for their privacy practices — please review their own policies.

Terms of Use

By creating a VASSIWA account, you agree to use the system honestly and only for your own membership and business activity. Attempting to access another member's data, impersonate another member, misrepresent a Business Enquiry, Skilled Manpower Requirement, or Industrial Area Alert, or interfere with the system's operation is prohibited and may result in suspension or termination of your account, at VASSIWA's discretion.

Payment, Cancellation & Refund Policy

Membership dues are payable annually or as a one-time lifetime fee, as selected at membership setup. Refund eligibility for cancelled or erroneous payments is assessed by VASSIWA administration on a case-by-case basis; we do not guarantee refunds in all circumstances. Full online refund terms will be published here once the online payment system (PhonePe) is live in production — it is not yet the live payment method for this Portal.

Account Suspension & Termination

VASSIWA may suspend or reject a membership application or an active account for conduct that violates these Terms, on grounds explained to you at the time. Where an application is not approved, the reason is recorded and shown to you, and your payment record is preserved rather than discarded.

Data Retention

We retain membership, attendance, payment, and VASSIWA Connect records for as long as your membership is active, and for a further period afterward as reasonably required for financial, legal, fraud-prevention, and audit purposes. Public website enquiries are retained for as long as reasonably needed to review and respond to them. We have not yet fixed an exact retention period for every record type; where we haven't, we keep the general commitment above rather than stating a specific number we can't yet stand behind.

Account Deletion & Data Requests

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your account and personal data by submitting a Query through the Member Portal, or by contacting us using the details below. Certain records (e.g. payment history, audit logs) may be retained even after a deletion request where required for financial, legal, fraud-prevention, or audit purposes.

Email & Communication Preferences

You can ask to stop receiving non-essential communications at any time by emailing us at the address below. We will still send transactional messages (e.g. payment confirmations, account and security notices) that are necessary to operate your membership.

Security

We take reasonable technical and administrative measures to protect your information, including role-based access control and audit logging of sensitive actions. No system can be guaranteed completely secure, and we do not claim this one is.

Grievance Officer

In accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and rules made thereunder, for any grievance about how your information is handled, write to VASSIWA at the contact details below and mark it for the attention of the Secretary. We aim to acknowledge grievances within a reasonable time.

Governing Law & Jurisdiction

This policy and any dispute arising from it are governed by the laws of India, subject to the jurisdiction of the courts at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the website and Portal change. Material changes will be reflected by updating the "Last updated" date above.