Privacy Policy

MySoil ("we", "our", "the platform") is committed to protecting the personal data of every farmer, extension worker, and partner organisation that uses our soil-intelligence service. This Privacy Policy explains, in plain language, what we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and how you can exercise your rights under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 ("DPDP Act").

By creating an account on MySoil you agree to the practices described below. You may revoke optional consents, request a copy of your data, or delete your account at any time through your account settings or by writing to the grievance officer listed at the end of this document.

1. What we collect

We collect the following categories of personal data:

• Identity: your name, mobile number, and (if you provide one) email address. Your mobile number is the primary identifier we use to authenticate you.
• Account credentials: a hashed password (we never see the plaintext) and short-lived one-time passwords (OTPs) sent to your phone for verification.
• Field and farm data: the geographic boundary of each field you create on the map, its area, its crop, and any descriptive metadata you choose to enter (e.g. soil type, irrigation pattern). The geometry is used to compute satellite indices and weather forecasts for that exact field.
• Soil measurements: values you upload from laboratory tests (pH, EC, organic carbon, nutrient levels) and values our machine-learning models derive from satellite imagery of your field.
• Session metadata: when you log in we record the approximate latitude/longitude reported by your device (so we can default the map to your area) and the IP address of the request. This data is associated with your active session only.
• Usage telemetry: anonymous diagnostic events (which screens you visited, which buttons you tapped) so that we can improve the product. We do not link this telemetry to your identity in our analytics tools.

2. Why we collect it (purpose)

• To provide the soil-intelligence service: compute health scores, generate advisories, send WhatsApp/SMS notifications, and render your dashboard.
• To authenticate you securely (OTP verification and password hashing).
• To respond to support requests and grievance notices.
• To comply with applicable Indian laws and regulatory requests.
• If you opt-in: to send you marketing communications about new features, partner offers, and agronomic content.
• If you opt-in: to use anonymised, aggregated versions of your field measurements to train and improve the underlying machine-learning models, and to share district-level insights with agricultural research partners. We never share data that identifies you with research partners.

3. Lawful basis

We process your personal data on the basis of your consent (which you provide at signup and may revoke at any time for optional purposes), and on the basis of legitimate use for the purposes you specifically requested (such as fulfilling a soil report you asked for). Sensitive data such as your phone number is processed strictly for the purpose for which it was collected.

4. Who we share it with

• Satellite and weather data providers (Google Earth Engine, Sentinel-Hub, Open-Meteo, public datasets) - we send them the geographic coordinates of your field to retrieve satellite imagery and weather forecasts. We do not send your identity.
• Communication providers (SMS gateways, WhatsApp Business API, email delivery services) - we send them your phone number or email when we are delivering a message you requested or that is required for your account (OTPs, password resets, transactional notifications).
• Cloud infrastructure (Amazon Web Services, including our database, hosted in the Asia Pacific (Mumbai) region). These are sub-processors. They are contractually bound to process data only as we direct them.
• Payment gateway (Razorpay Software Private Limited) - when you pay for a report, your payment is processed by Razorpay. We receive a payment reference, the method used, and the UPI ID or phone number the payment was made from — we record whether that matches the farmer the report is for, as evidence of who paid. We never receive or store your card number, UPI PIN or bank credentials.
• Map display (Mapbox) - used to show the map on which a field is selected. The coordinates chosen are sent to render that map view.
• Research and extension partners - only if you opted in to data sharing, and only in anonymised, aggregated form (e.g. "average organic carbon across Varanasi district").
• Law-enforcement authorities when we receive a valid legal demand under Indian law.

We do not sell your personal data to advertisers or third parties.

5. Where we store data and cross-border transfer

MySoil's production database is hosted on Amazon Web Services in the Asia Pacific (Mumbai) region. Backups are retained inside the same region. Where third-party processors (e.g. our error-tracking tool) hold operational metadata outside India, we ensure they have appropriate safeguards in place and we minimise the personal data transferred.

6. How long we keep it (retention)

• Soil report records (farmer details): where a report is registered for a farmer - including by a dealer on their behalf - the farmer’s name, mobile number, village, taluka, district and survey number, together with any payment screenshot, are cleared 7 years after the report. This matches the statutory tax-record period, because the tax invoice for that report is generated from these details. The field’s coordinates, the soil result and the order and invoice numbers are retained beyond that point. Retaining coordinates means these records are pseudonymised rather than anonymous: a field location may still identify the person who farms it.
• Active account data: retained as long as your account is active and you continue to use the service.
• Inactive accounts: if you do not log in for 24 consecutive months, we will email you and, if you do not respond within 30 days, soft-delete the account.
• Deleted accounts: when you request deletion we erase your personal data within 7 days, except where we are legally required to retain certain records (e.g. tax invoices). Anonymised, aggregated derivatives may persist in our trained ML models - these cannot be linked back to you.
• OTPs and session tokens: 5-minute and 7-day lifespan respectively.
• Diagnostic logs: retained for at least 180 days, as required by Indian cyber-security directions (CERT-In), with personal data such as field coordinates redacted before logging.

7. Where a dealer registers a report for you

Some MySoil reports are registered by a partner or dealer on a farmer’s behalf. We then hold that farmer’s details even though they have no MySoil account. The dealer is required to inform the farmer and obtain their consent before entering these details.

If a report has been registered in your name and you did not agree to it, or you wish to see, correct or delete what we hold, contact our Grievance Officer below. You do not need an account to make that request.

8. Your rights as a data principal (DPDP S11-S14)

Under the DPDP Act you have the right to:

• Access and confirmation: request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, delivered as a readable PDF document.
• Correction and erasure: ask us to correct inaccurate data or delete data you no longer want us to hold.
• Grievance redressal: raise a complaint with the grievance officer named below; we will respond within 7 days.
• Nomination: nominate another individual to exercise these rights on your behalf in the event of your death or incapacity.
• Withdrawal of consent: withdraw any optional consent at any time through your account settings. This does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.

These rights are exposed in the application as account settings actions. If a self-service path is not available for a request, contact the grievance officer.

9. Security

All traffic between your device and our servers is encrypted with TLS. Passwords are stored as bcrypt hashes. Sensitive credentials (database passwords, API keys, JWT secrets) are stored in AWS Secrets Manager with restricted access. We monitor for breaches and have an internal incident-response process that will notify you and the relevant authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of a notifiable breach affecting your data (DPDP S8).

10. Children

MySoil is intended for use by adults. We do not knowingly process the personal data of anyone under 18. If you believe a child has created an account, contact the grievance officer and we will delete the account and associated data.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When the version number above increases, you will be prompted to re-accept the updated policy the next time you log in. Material changes will also be communicated via email or in-app notice.

12. Grievance officer (DPDP S10)

For any request, complaint, or question relating to your personal data:

Vaibhavraj Kumthekar — Grievance Officer, MySoil — Email: support@mysoil.info

We will acknowledge your message within 48 hours and substantively respond within 7 days.

13. Third-party data sources

Soil predictions are derived from public Earth-observation datasets: they contain modified Copernicus Sentinel data (European Union / ESA), and use soil property baselines from ISRIC — SoilGrids (licensed CC BY 4.0), accessed via Google Earth Engine. These datasets describe land and soil, not people; no personal data is shared with these providers.