Policies · effective 1 October 2026
Confidentiality, terms and fees
These policies hold the practice to a research-ethics standard: informed consent, voluntary participation, minimal collection, confidentiality by default and a firewall between client work and scholarship. They are written to be read, not skimmed.
Privacy and Confidentiality Policy
1. Who we are
Tailenders Analytics is a professional practice owned and run by Dr. Vijay Ramprasad Rao, a proprietor based in India. For the purposes of India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, Tailenders Analytics is the Data Fiduciary for the personal data described here. Contact details are in Contact.
2. The standard we apply
We apply to every client, wherever they live, the protections of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, together with the principles that govern research with human participants: informed consent, voluntary participation, minimal risk, minimal collection and confidentiality. Where the law of your country gives you stronger rights, including the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation or a US state privacy law, we honour those rights as well.
3. What we collect, why, and for how long
| Information | Why we need it | How long we keep it |
|---|---|---|
| Name, email, phone, city, country | To reply, schedule and invoice | Enquiries that do not become engagements: deleted after 12 months. Clients: as below. |
| Enquiry answers (role, organisation, goals, deadlines, programme details, academic stage and targets) | To judge fit, quote a fee and prepare for the scoping call | As above |
| Material you share during an engagement (CVs, transcripts, drafts, programme documents, datasets) | To deliver the service you engaged us for | Three years after the engagement ends, then deleted or returned to you |
| Session notes | Continuity of advice | Three years after the engagement ends |
| Invoices and payment confirmations | Tax and accounting | For the period Indian tax and GST law requires |
| Recordings, only if every participant agrees in advance | Accurate notes | Deleted within 30 days of the session |
We do not ask for government identity numbers, bank account or card numbers, health information, religion or political opinions. Where tax law requires a PAN or GSTIN on an invoice, we collect it for that purpose alone. Payments are handled by payment processors; we never see full card numbers.
There is one exception, and it is voluntary. A student applying for the no-fee sessions may choose to tell us about household income, schooling, caste or another circumstance that makes the fee impossible. We use it for that decision alone, never for pricing anyone else, never for marketing, and never disclosed. It is kept apart from the rest of the enquiry and deleted at the end of the cycle in which the decision is made. You may apply without it and simply describe the situation in your own words.
4. Consent, and withdrawing it
We process your information on the basis of the consent you give on the enquiry form or in the engagement letter, and, for invoices, to meet legal obligations. Every question beyond your name and email is optional. You may withdraw consent at any time by writing to us; we then stop processing and erase what we hold, except what the law requires us to keep. Withdrawal may mean we cannot continue a service, and it does not affect processing that took place before it.
5. Children and students under 18
We serve students under 18 only through a parent or legal guardian, who completes the enquiry, gives verifiable consent, signs the engagement letter and receives all correspondence. We collect from a student only what the service needs, never track or profile children, and never direct advertising at them. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. Sessions with a student under 18 take place by video with the parent or guardian informed and welcome to attend; we do not use private messaging channels with minors.
6. Confidentiality
Everything you tell us is confidential by default. We do not disclose that you are a client, we do not discuss your matter with others, and this duty continues after the engagement ends. Confidentiality has four limits, and we state them in advance:
- with your written consent;
- where a law, court order or regulator compels disclosure, in which case we disclose only what is required and tell you first unless the law forbids it;
- where disclosure is necessary to prevent serious and imminent harm to you or another person;
- where the law requires us to report suspected abuse of a child, including under India's Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and comparable reporting laws elsewhere.
Our conversations are not legally privileged in the way conversations with a lawyer are. If your matter involves litigation, investigation or legal risk, speak to a lawyer before you share details with us.
7. The research firewall
Dr. Ramprasad is also an active researcher. Nothing from a client engagement enters his academic research, teaching or publications without your separate written consent and, where required, approval from an institutional ethics committee. We publish no testimonials, photographs or client names. Where a method is written up for teaching, it is anonymised, and only with your written consent. Aggregate, de-identified lessons about method may inform our practice.
8. Participants in our field studies
When we collect data from programme participants for an assessment, we follow a written protocol: informed consent in the participant's language, read aloud where needed; the freedom to decline any question or stop at any time without consequence; no payment or benefit conditional on answers; interviews with children only with a guardian's consent and the child's assent; names and identifiers stored separately from responses; no names in reports; referral to appropriate support where an interview raises distress. Clients receive findings and de-identified data only, unless the contract and each participant's consent say otherwise. Identifiable field data is destroyed within six months of the final report unless the contract requires a longer period for audit.
9. Who else handles your information
Only Dr. Ramprasad and, where an engagement requires it, named associates or field staff who have signed written confidentiality undertakings, on a need-to-know basis. For assessments delivered with an institutional partner, the partner receives only what the contract requires, under the same terms. We also rely on service providers who process information on our behalf and only to provide their service to us:
- Google, for email, calendar and the enquiry log;
- payment processors, such as Razorpay for payments in India and Skydo for international transfers;
- our website host and scheduling tool;
- Anthropic's Claude, an AI assistant, which organises enquiries into preparation notes and helps draft documents that Dr. Ramprasad reviews. We use settings that exclude your material from model training where the provider offers that choice, and we do not put identity documents, financial details or health information into AI tools.
We never sell or rent personal information, and we do not "sell" or "share" it as those terms are defined in California law. We send no marketing email without your separate consent.
10. Storage outside India
Some providers store data on servers outside India, including in the United States. We transfer data only as the Digital Personal Data Protection Act permits, and not to any country the Government of India restricts.
11. Security
Two-factor authentication on every account; encrypted devices; client files kept in access-controlled accounts, never on removable drives or shared computers; field data encrypted at rest; access removed when an engagement ends; an annual review of these safeguards. If a breach affects your information, we will tell you without delay what happened, the likely impact and what we are doing about it, and we will report to the Data Protection Board of India, with a detailed report within 72 hours, as the Rules require. We apply this standard from launch, ahead of its legal commencement.
12. Your rights
You may ask for a summary of the information we hold about you and how we use it; correct or update it; erase it; withdraw consent; nominate a person to exercise these rights if you die or become unable to; and raise a grievance. We respond within 30 days. If you are not satisfied, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India. If you live in the EU, the UK or a US state with a privacy law, you have the rights that law gives you, and we extend access and deletion to everyone regardless of residence.
13. This website
The site sets no cookies and runs no analytics or advertising trackers. Its fonts load from Google Fonts, which receives your IP address as part of that request, and our host keeps standard server logs.
14. Language
This notice is available in English and, on request, in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi or Telugu, or in any other language in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India.
15. Changes
We post changes here with a new effective date and tell active clients of any material change before it applies to them.
Terms of Engagement
1. What governs an engagement
Every engagement is governed by a written engagement letter setting out scope, deliverables, fee, timeline and any special terms, together with these Terms and the Privacy and Confidentiality Policy. Where they conflict, the engagement letter prevails. Nothing in these Terms limits rights you hold as a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 or any other law that cannot be excluded by contract.
2. What we provide, and what we do not
We provide research, evaluation, advisory, educational and coaching services. We do not provide legal, tax, accounting, investment, immigration or visa, medical, psychological or psychiatric services. Leadership counsel is coaching, not therapy; if a mental-health concern arises, we will say so and suggest a qualified professional. For admissions, we act for you alone: we are not an agent or recruiter for any university.
3. No guarantees
We do not guarantee admission, scholarships, funding, visas, employment, publication, promotion, regulatory approval, investment returns or any particular finding in an assessment. We guarantee method, candour and the effort set out in the engagement letter.
4. Your responsibilities
You provide information that is accurate and complete, you make your own decisions, and your applications, statements and manuscripts remain your own work. You are responsible for meeting deadlines and for what you submit to third parties.
5. Integrity
We do not write application essays or statements on your behalf, fabricate or embellish credentials, scores, experience or recommendations, trade authorship for payment, or contact admissions officers, editors, funders or officials to influence a decision. We accept no commissions from universities, publishers, employers or service providers we recommend. We will end an engagement that asks us to do any of these things.
6. Independence and conflicts
We do not assess a programme we helped design, and we do not assess and advise the same listed company. Before accepting an engagement we check for conflicts of interest and disclose any we find; where a conflict cannot be managed, we decline. In an assessment you may comment on factual accuracy, but findings remain ours.
7. Anti-bribery
We give and accept no bribes, facilitation payments or improper gifts, and we comply with India's Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and, where it applies, the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
8. Safeguarding
For students under 18, the parent or guardian is the contracting party. Sessions follow the safeguards in the Privacy and Confidentiality Policy, and we report concerns where the law requires.
9. Intellectual property
On full payment, you own the final deliverables prepared for you. We retain our pre-existing methods, frameworks, templates and know-how, and may reuse them. We publish no client name, logo, photograph or testimonial, and we do not describe your engagement publicly.
10. Reliance
Reports and advice are prepared for you, for the purpose stated in the engagement letter, on the information available at the time. Third parties may not rely on them without our written consent.
11. Liability
To the extent the law allows, our total liability arising from an engagement is limited to the fees paid for that engagement in the twelve months before the claim, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss. These limits do not apply to fraud, wilful misconduct or any liability that cannot lawfully be limited. You indemnify us against claims arising from information you supplied that was inaccurate or from use of our work contrary to our advice.
12. Recording and communication
Sessions are not recorded without the consent of everyone present. Advice is given by email and scheduled calls; messaging apps are for logistics only.
13. Ending an engagement
Either party may end an engagement by written notice. Fees for work completed, and costs already committed, remain payable; refunds follow the Fees, Cancellations and Refunds policy.
14. Events beyond control
Neither party is liable for delay caused by events beyond reasonable control, such as natural disasters, epidemics, civil unrest or government action; timelines extend accordingly.
15. Complaints and disputes
Raise any concern with us first; we acknowledge within 3 working days and respond in substance within 15. If a dispute remains, the parties will attempt mediation, and failing that, the dispute will be resolved by arbitration under India's Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, before a sole arbitrator, in English, seated in [city to confirm]. These Terms are governed by the laws of India, and the courts at the seat have jurisdiction for interim relief. An engagement letter with a client outside India may specify otherwise.
16. Changes
We may update these Terms for future engagements; the version in force when you sign your engagement letter applies to that engagement.
Fees, Cancellations and Refunds
Fees
Indicative fee ranges are sent privately after an enquiry. The fee for your engagement is fixed in writing in the engagement letter before work begins. Taxes, including GST where applicable, are added as the law requires. Field and travel costs are billed at actuals, with receipts.
Payment
- Single sessions and consults: paid in advance to confirm the booking.
- Programmes: 50 percent on signing, 50 percent at the midpoint.
- Retainers: monthly or quarterly in advance.
- Organisational projects: on the milestone schedule in the engagement letter.
- Clients outside India: in US dollars by bank transfer; the sender bears their own bank's charges.
Work pauses when an invoice is more than 15 days overdue.
Rescheduling
A session may be rescheduled once without charge with at least 24 hours' notice. A later change, or a missed session, forfeits that session's fee.
Cancellations and refunds
- Sessions cancelled with at least 24 hours' notice: full refund or credit.
- Programmes cancelled within 7 days of payment and before work begins: full refund less payment-processing charges. After work begins: refund of the fee for components not yet started.
- Retainers: 30 days' written notice; the current paid period is not refunded.
- Organisational projects: as set out in the engagement letter, covering work completed and costs committed.
- If we cancel: a full refund of fees for undelivered work.
- Journeys: the operator's booking and cancellation terms apply to the trip; our study-leader fee is refunded if a departure is cancelled.
An outcome decided by a third party, such as an admission, a grant or a publication decision, is not grounds for a refund. Approved refunds are paid to the original payment method within 10 working days.