This Privacy Policy explains how AscentAstro ("we", "us", "our"), operated by Virubakshan Manohar as a sole proprietorship, collects, uses, stores, and protects the personal information you provide when you use our services or visit our website.
This Policy is published in compliance with the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 ("SPDI Rules"), and in anticipation of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 ("DPDP Act") and its forthcoming implementing rules.
By using our services, you consent to the practices described in this Policy. If you do not agree, please do not submit your information or use our services.
We collect only the information necessary to prepare your personalised Vedic astrology report and to communicate your delivery to you.
2.1 Information you provide directly
Data
Why we collect it
Classification
Full name
To personalise your report and address you correctly
Personal Data
Date of birth
Core input for Vedic birth chart calculation — without this, no reading is possible
Sensitive Personal Data
Time of birth
Required to calculate the Ascendant (Lagna) and house positions accurately
Sensitive Personal Data
Place of birth (city, state, country)
Used to determine geographic coordinates for accurate planetary calculations
Sensitive Personal Data
WhatsApp number or email address
To deliver your completed report and communicate about your order
Personal Data
Questions submitted (if any)
To address specific topics in the Q&A section of your report
Personal Data (may be sensitive depending on content)
Razorpay payment/order reference
To verify payment; Razorpay processes your card, UPI, or bank details directly — we never see or store them
Personal Data
Why birth data is treated as Sensitive: Your date, time, and place of birth, when combined, uniquely identify your astrological profile and are used to derive information about your personality, health tendencies, relationships, and life phases. We treat this combination as sensitive personal data and apply the corresponding protections described in this Policy.
2.2 Information collected automatically
When you visit our website, we may automatically collect limited technical data including your IP address, browser type, device type, and pages visited. This data is used solely for diagnostic purposes and is not linked to your identity or your order.
3. How We Use Your Information
We use your personal data for the following purposes only:
Report preparation: Your birth details (date, time, place) are first processed by a deterministic astronomical engine (Swiss Ephemeris, running locally) to compute your precise planetary positions and chart structure. Your name, computed chart data, and any context you provide are then processed through AI language models (Google Gemini and/or Anthropic Claude, depending on the report) operating under a proprietary interpretive framework — the rules, principles, and chart-reading logic developed and refined by our astrologer specifically for Vedic astrology. This framework is what makes each reading distinctly ours: the AI model generates a first draft, and our astrology team then reviews it word by word and rewrites it wherever necessary before it is dispatched to you — the astrological judgment, interpretation, and final wording applied to your chart are proprietary to AscentAstro, not generic AI output. Your contact details (WhatsApp / email) and payment information are never transmitted to any AI model.
Delivery: Your contact details are used to send you the completed report link and any delivery-related communications.
Order administration: To verify payment, respond to queries, and manage your order.
Service improvement: Anonymised, aggregated insights (e.g., common questions asked) may be used to improve our service. No individually identifiable data is used for this purpose.
Legal compliance: To comply with applicable laws and to respond to legitimate legal requests.
We do not use your data for marketing, advertising, profiling, or automated decision-making of any kind. We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third party.
4. Legal Basis for Processing
We process your personal data on the following legal bases:
Consent: By submitting your birth details and order form, you provide free, informed, and specific consent to the processing of your data for the purposes described in Section 3. You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting us (see Section 12), subject to the limitations in Section 6 on data retention.
Contractual necessity: Processing of your contact details and payment reference is necessary to fulfil the service you have purchased.
Legal obligation: Certain data may be retained to comply with applicable tax, accounting, or legal record-keeping requirements.
5. Sharing of Your Information
We do not share your personal information with third parties except in the following limited circumstances:
Service delivery tools: Your contact details are used on standard messaging and email platforms (WhatsApp, Gmail) solely to deliver your report. These platforms have their own privacy policies.
Legal requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by a court order, government authority, or applicable law, or to protect our legal rights.
Business transfer: In the event that AscentAstro is transferred to another entity, your data may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to equivalent protections. You will be notified of any such transfer.
We do not currently use third-party analytics services that collect personally identifiable information from our users.
6. Data Retention
We retain your personal data for the following periods:
Birth data and report content: Retained for a period of up to two (2) years from the date of delivery, to enable us to re-send your report if the link is lost, to handle any queries or disputes, and to provide continuity of service. After this period, birth data is deleted from our records.
Contact details: Retained for the same two-year period and deleted thereafter unless you have an ongoing relationship with us.
Payment references: Retained for up to seven (7) years as required by applicable tax and accounting regulations in India.
Anonymised report data: Aggregated, anonymised data from which no individual can be identified may be retained indefinitely for service improvement purposes.
You may request deletion of your data before the end of these retention periods by writing to us (see Section 12). We will act on such requests within 30 days, subject to our legal obligation to retain certain records.
Data retained under this Section may also be used as evidence in the event of a dispute, chargeback, or fraud investigation relating to your order.
7. Data Security
We implement reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include:
Access to client data is restricted to Virubakshan Manohar (the sole proprietor and astrologer) only. No third-party personnel have access to your birth data or report content.
Reports are delivered via secure, unique links. We do not publish client data publicly.
Our website is served over HTTPS (TLS encryption in transit).
Client data is stored on password-protected devices and is not stored on publicly accessible cloud services without access controls.
No method of digital storage or transmission is 100% secure. While we take reasonable precautions, we cannot guarantee absolute security. In the event of a data breach that poses a material risk to you, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by applicable law.
8. Your Rights
You have the following rights with respect to your personal data held by us. To exercise any of these rights, please write to our Grievance Officer (Section 12):
Right to access: You may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to correction: You may request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to deletion (erasure): You may request deletion of your personal data, subject to our legal retention obligations described in Section 6.
Right to withdraw consent: You may withdraw your consent to processing at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal. Note that withdrawal after report delivery does not entitle you to a refund.
Right to grievance redressal: You have the right to raise a grievance with our Grievance Officer. If unsatisfied with our response, you may approach the relevant Consumer Forum or, once notified, the Data Protection Board of India under the DPDP Act, 2023.
We will respond to all data rights requests within 30 days of receipt.
9. Cookies & Third-Party Scripts
Our website itself does not set tracking or advertising cookies. However, the following third-party scripts load on every page of ascentastro.com and may independently set cookies or collect data under their own privacy policies:
Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com) — loads our typefaces. Google's servers receive your IP address and browser details at the point of page load. See Google's Privacy Policy.
Razorpay (checkout.razorpay.com) — a payment gateway script that loads on the main site. Razorpay may set cookies through this script. Your card or UPI account details go directly to Razorpay and are never seen or stored by us. See Razorpay's Privacy Policy.
We do not use advertising networks, social media pixels, or behavioural analytics services. We use browser localStorage (on-device only, never transmitted to us) to remember review submissions and order history locally on your device.
10. Children's Privacy
Our services are intended for individuals who are 18 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has submitted personal information to us, please contact us immediately and we will delete such information promptly.
11. Cross-Border Data Transfers
We primarily store and process data within India. However, the following cross-border data transfers occur as part of delivering our service:
Vercel (website hosting): Our website is hosted on Vercel's infrastructure, which may process data through servers located outside India. Vercel's data processing is governed by their privacy policy and standard contractual protections.
AI language model APIs (AI report generation): Your name and computed chart data (planetary positions and astrological factors derived from your birth details) are transmitted to AI language model providers — Google Gemini (Google LLC) and/or Anthropic Claude (Anthropic PBC), depending on the report — to help render the interpretive sections of your report. These models operate strictly under our astrologer's proprietary interpretive framework; they are not generating readings independently from generic training. This is a transfer of personal data to data processors outside India, governed by each provider's respective privacy policy and applicable data protection agreements. Your contact details and payment information are not included in this transfer.
By using our services, you consent to these transfers to the extent they occur. We will update this section as DPDP Act rules on cross-border transfers are notified by the Government of India.
12. Grievance Officer
In accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the SPDI Rules, 2011, the following person has been designated as the Grievance Officer for AscentAstro:
Working hours: Monday to Saturday, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM IST
Acknowledgement: Within 48 hours of receipt
Resolution: Within 30 days of receipt
13. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or for other legitimate operational reasons. The "Last Updated" date at the top of this page will reflect the most recent revision. Where changes are material, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you directly. Your continued use of our services following such changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.