Privacy policy.

Who we are

This website (www.essardigi.com) is run by Essar Associates, Vellanikkaran Building, Main Road, Opp. Canara Bank, Irinjalakuda, Kerala 680121. Hileo Forge (our solar brand) and Sara Trading (solar panel distribution, Thrissur) are part of the same group, and this policy covers enquiries made to any of them through this website. In this policy, "we", "us" and "our" mean Essar Associates and its group brands.

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 ("DPDP Act"), we are the Data Fiduciary for the personal data you share with us here.

What we collect

What you type into our forms

Depending on the form, we ask for some of the following:

• your name and mobile number;
• your email address, if you choose to give it;
• your town or area;
• your electricity bill range (for solar enquiries);
• device, product or issue details (for service, repair and ASC requests);
• business details such as your company name, type of business or district (for business solar, dealer and franchise enquiries);
• any message you write to us.

Where your enquiry came from

With each form we also record how you reached us: campaign tags in the link (UTM tags), ad click identifiers (such as gclid or fbclid), the page you first landed on, the page you sent the form from and the referring website.

Technical data

When you send a form, our server sees your IP address and your browser details (the "user agent", which names your browser and type of device). We use your IP address to protect the forms from spam and abuse (for example, limiting how many forms can be sent from one address in a short time); for this we keep only a scrambled form of the address, never the address itself. Only if you have allowed marketing cookies, we also pass your IP address and browser details to Meta to measure our ads (see "Who we share it with").

Cookies

Cookies that are not strictly necessary are only set if you agree to them. See "Cookies" below.

Why we use it

• to reply to your enquiry and pass it to the right desk (solar, sales, service, signage, Sara Trading or franchise);
• to prepare quotes, arrange site visits and deliver the product or service you asked about;
• to prevent fraud, spam and misuse of the website;
• only if you agree to analytics or marketing cookies: to understand how the website is used and to measure how well our advertising works.

We do not use your data for anything unrelated to your enquiry without asking you first.

Your consent

We process your personal data on the basis of your consent. You give it by ticking the consent box on our forms ("I agree to be contacted by Essar Associates about my enquiry") and, for cookies, by choosing your options in the cookie banner.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by writing to care@essardigi.com or, for cookies, through "Cookie settings" at the foot of every page. Withdrawing consent does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it, but we may then be unable to continue with your enquiry.

Who we share it with

• Our own desks. Your enquiry goes to the team that handles it within Essar Associates, Hileo Forge or Sara Trading.
• Service providers who work for us, only to run this website, our email and our customer records: website hosting (Hostinger), email (Google Workspace) and our customer relationship system (Zoho CRM), where each enquiry is recorded so the right team can follow it up. Enquiries you send through our ad forms on Google are recorded there in the same way.
• Analytics and advertising tools, only with your consent: Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Microsoft Clarity. If you have allowed marketing cookies and send us an enquiry, we also tell Meta that an enquiry was made (the type of form and the page), together with: your mobile number and email in a scrambled (hashed) form; your IP address; your browser details (user agent); and the identifiers in Meta's own cookies on this site (_fbp and _fbc) or, if you arrived from a Meta ad, the ad click identifier. Meta uses these to match the enquiry to its own accounts and ads, so we can measure our ads. Later we may also tell Meta how your enquiry went (for example: contacted, site visit booked, quote sent, became a customer, or not interested), with the same scrambled mobile number and email, your town (also scrambled) and the same browser details and Meta identifiers, so Meta can measure and improve our ads. We do the same for enquiries sent through our ad forms on Facebook or Instagram. If you send an enquiry here without allowing marketing cookies, we send nothing about it to Meta, now or later.
• Authorities, where the law requires us to.

We do not sell your personal data.

How long we keep it

We keep your personal data only as long as it is needed for the purpose you gave it for, and for any legal, tax or warranty obligations that apply to us. After that we delete it.

Every enquiry sent through the website is recorded in our customer relationship system (Zoho CRM), emailed to the right team and also saved in a secure backup file on our web server (not publicly reachable), so that no enquiry is lost if an email fails. That file holds what you entered in the form, where you came from (for example the ad or page), whether you allowed marketing cookies, and your browser details (user agent), but not your IP address. It follows the same rule: we delete entries once they are no longer needed.

Your rights

Under the DPDP Act you have the right to:

• ask for a summary of the personal data we hold about you and how we use it;
• ask us to correct, complete or update it;
• ask us to erase it, unless we must keep it by law;
• withdraw your consent at any time;
• have a grievance about how we handle your data addressed by us;
• nominate another person to exercise these rights for you in the event of your death or incapacity.

How to ask for deletion or anything else

Email care@essardigi.com with the subject "Privacy request". Tell us what you would like us to do and give the mobile number or email you used with us, so we can find your details. We may ask you to confirm who you are before we act. We will respond within the time the law requires.

Grievances

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, write to our grievance contact at care@essardigi.com. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

Children

This website is not directed at children under 18, and we do not knowingly collect their personal data. If you are under 18, please ask a parent or guardian to contact us for you.

Cookies

When you first visit, a banner asks which cookies you allow:

• Necessary: needed for the website to work and to remember your cookie choice. These are always on.
• Analytics: help us understand which pages are used and where people get stuck (Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity). Off unless you allow them.
• Marketing: help us measure how well our ads work and show relevant ads (Meta, and Google advertising tags through Google Tag Manager). Off unless you allow them.

You can change your choice at any time with the Cookie settings button, which is also at the foot of every page.

Security

The website is served over an encrypted connection (HTTPS), and access to enquiries is limited to the people who need them to help you. No method of sending or storing data is completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your data from loss and misuse.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If we make a significant change, we will show a notice on this website.

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