Privacy policy
Balanza is an app for shops, wholesalers and distributors in India to run sales, orders, delivery, buying, stock, money and GST. It is run by The Optimal Team ("we"). This policy explains, in plain words, what information Balanza collects, why, who sees it, where it is kept, and the choices you have. Questions: support@optimals.in.
Two kinds of information
- Your account: the details of the people who sign in to Balanza (owners and their staff). For this information we decide how it is used.
- Your business records: what a business enters about its customers, suppliers, products, bills and money. The business decides what goes in and how it is used; we keep it safe and use it only to run Balanza for that business. If you are a customer or supplier of a business that uses Balanza and want your details changed or removed, please ask that business, or write to us and we will pass it on.
What we collect
- Sign-in: your mobile number, your name, and the language you choose. Sign-in codes and staff PINs are stored only in a scrambled form that cannot be read back. When you sign in with WhatsApp, we receive the number you message us from and your sign-in message, and nothing else from WhatsApp.
- Business details: business name, GSTIN, address and state, your plan and settings, and your team (names, mobile numbers, roles).
- Business records you enter: products, prices and stock; bills, orders, quotations, deliveries, payments, cheques, expenses and GST returns; customers and suppliers (names, mobile numbers, GSTIN, town or address, credit terms).
- Photos you take or choose: of bills, products and deliveries. We only get photos you choose to save.
- Location, only when you check in at a shop on a tour or save a shop's location. We save that place with the visit or the shop. Balanza does not track your location in the background.
- Contacts, only when you choose to add customers or suppliers from your phone. The app reads your contact list on your phone to show it to you; only the contacts you pick are sent to Balanza.
- Camera, to scan barcodes and take photos. Barcode scanning happens on your phone.
- Plan purchases: plans bought in the Android app are paid through Google Play, which handles the payment. We receive the purchase status from Google Play (which plan, whether it is active, the free first month, when it renews or ends) and a purchase reference. We never receive your card, UPI or bank details.
- Technical records: the app version, your IP address and a log of requests to our servers, used to keep Balanza secure and to fix problems. These logs are deleted automatically after 14 to 30 days.
Balanza does not use your microphone, does not read your SMS or call history, has no advertising, does not use advertising IDs, and we never sell your information.
How we use it
- To run Balanza for you: bills and GST, orders and delivery, stock, payments, reminders and reports.
- To sign you in, keep your account secure, and stop misuse.
- To run your plan: check plans bought through Google Play, and remind you before a free month ends.
- To help you when you contact support, and to keep Balanza working well.
- Smart features (for example reading a supplier bill from a photo, or answering a question about your business): when you use them, the photo or question and the records needed to answer it are sent to our AI provider, Anthropic, which returns the answer. Anthropic does not use this information to train its models.
Who sees it
- Your team sees what their role allows (for example a cashier sees the counter, an accountant sees the books). The owner decides each person's role.
- Businesses you trade with on Balanza: when you add a customer or supplier who also uses Balanza (the same mobile number or GSTIN), the bills, orders and payments between the two of you are shared with them so both sets of books match. They can question a bill, and either of you can disconnect.
- Your customers receive what you send them: bills, receipts and payment reminders on WhatsApp or SMS.
- Service providers who run parts of Balanza for us, only for that purpose: Amazon Web Services (our servers and storage, in Mumbai, India); Anthropic (smart features, which may be processed outside India); SMS and WhatsApp providers (to send sign-in codes, bills and reminders); Meta (WhatsApp), when you sign in with WhatsApp; a GST Suvidha Provider (to check GSTINs and file e-invoices and e-way bills with the GST Network when you ask us to); Google Play and the Apple App Store (to deliver the app; Google Play also takes the payment for plans bought in the Android app).
- When the law requires it: for example a valid order from a court or a tax authority.
Where it is kept, and for how long
- Your information is stored in India, on Amazon Web Services in Mumbai.
- We keep your account and business records while you use Balanza. Backups are kept for up to 35 days.
- When an account or business is deleted, we delete its information, except records the law requires a business to keep (GST law generally requires bills and accounts to be kept for 72 months after the due date of the annual return). Those are kept only for that purpose and then deleted.
- Sign-in codes expire within minutes.
How we protect it
- All connections use encryption (HTTPS); stored information and backups are encrypted.
- Each business's records are kept separate by the database itself, so one business can never see another's.
- Changes to money and stock records are kept in a history that cannot be quietly changed, and important actions are logged.
- Only a small number of people at The Optimal Team can reach the servers, and only to run and support Balanza.
Your choices and rights
Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you can:
- ask for a summary of the personal information we hold about you;
- correct or update it (most of it you can change in the app yourself);
- ask us to delete it, and withdraw your consent;
- name someone to act for you if you die or cannot act yourself;
- raise a complaint with our Grievance Officer (below) and, if you are not satisfied, with the Data Protection Board of India.
You can turn off access to the camera, location or contacts at any time in your phone's settings; Balanza keeps working, without that one feature. Write to support@optimals.in from anywhere, or use the app. We reply within 30 days.
Deleting your account
In the app: open the menu and choose Delete my account. Or see how to delete your account. We complete deletion within 30 days.
Children
Balanza is for running a business and is not meant for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect information about children.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the date at the top, and for important changes we will tell you in the app first.
Grievance Officer
Raj Garg, The Optimal Team
Email: support@optimals.in