Privacy Policy

• Account info — name, email address, phone number, and college name, provided at sign-up or profile edit.
• Registration data — the events you register for, team name and team member details (for team events), and registration status.
• Payment data — Razorpay order IDs, payment IDs, amounts, and transaction status. We do not store card numbers, UPI PINs, or bank credentials — those are handled entirely by Razorpay.
• Check-in data — QR-scan timestamps recorded when you enter an event venue.
• Technical data — IP address and browser user-agent string, logged automatically by the server for security and debugging.

Your data is used to:

• Create and manage your ARKFEST 26 account.
• Process event registrations and payments.
• Generate QR tickets and manage on-site check-in.
• Send transactional emails (OTP verification, registration confirmation).
• Provide attendance data to SAGE University for certificate issuance.
• Investigate payment disputes, abuse, or technical issues.

We do not use your data for marketing, behavioural advertising, or any purpose unrelated to ARKFEST 26. See the full Data Use Policy for specifics.

• ARKFEST 26 Organisers — the student committee and faculty coordinators. Access is limited to the admin panel and is used for event management, check-in, and support.
• Razorpay — processes payments under its own privacy policy.
• Resend — delivers transactional emails (OTP, confirmations) under its own privacy policy.
• SAGE University — receives participant lists for certificates and campus-level reporting.

Account and registration data is retained for 12 months after ARKFEST 26 (3 October 2026) to support certificate issuance, payment reconciliation, and dispute resolution. After that window, data is deleted or anonymised unless a legal obligation requires longer retention.

The portal uses no third-party tracking cookies. We use browser localStorage to persist your authentication token and UI preferences (e.g. cart state). No analytics or advertising trackers are present on the site.

You can:

• View and update your name, phone, and college in the dashboard profile section.
• Request a copy of all data we hold about you by emailing arkfest26@gmail.com.
• Request deletion of your account and associated data, subject to the retention period above and any pending payment obligations.

We will respond to data requests within 15 business days.

Passwords are hashed with bcrypt. Authentication uses signed JWTs with server-validated expiry. The portal enforces HTTPS and ships security headers via Helmet. OTP verification includes brute-force rate limiting. While we take reasonable measures to protect your data, no system is perfectly secure — please keep your credentials confidential.

We may update this policy before or after the fest. Changes will be reflected on this page with an updated "last updated" date. Your continued use of the portal after changes constitutes acceptance.

Privacy questions? Email arkfest26@gmail.com.