Company Policy

This document sets out the operating policies of IjyaLabs, a sole proprietorship of Arun R Kaushik (GSTIN 27BFMPK2514K2Z9) operating from Nagpur, Maharashtra, India ("IjyaLabs", "we", "us"). These policies apply to our team, our contractors, and govern the standards we hold ourselves to in every client engagement. Questions may be directed to legal@ijyalabs.in.

1. Equal Opportunity & Non-Discrimination

1.1 Our commitment

IjyaLabs is an equal opportunity organisation. We do not discriminate in hiring, engagement, or professional relationships on the basis of gender, age, caste, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law, including the Constitution of India and the Equal Remuneration Act.

1.2 Hiring and collaboration

All hiring, contractor selection, and promotion decisions are made solely on the basis of qualifications, skill, and fit for the role. We actively seek to work with professionals from diverse backgrounds and are committed to creating an environment where different perspectives strengthen the quality of our advisory work.

1.3 Client engagement

We serve clients without regard to the size, industry, or ownership structure of their organisation. We evaluate every engagement on the basis of scope, feasibility, and our ability to deliver genuine value — not on the basis of who owns or leads the client organisation.

1.4 Reporting concerns

Anyone who believes they have experienced or witnessed discriminatory conduct in connection with IjyaLabs is encouraged to contact us at legal@ijyalabs.in. All reports are treated confidentially and investigated promptly.

2. Code of Conduct & Anti-Harassment

2.1 Professional standards

Everyone associated with IjyaLabs — employees, contractors, and collaborators — is expected to conduct themselves with honesty, integrity, and respect in all professional interactions. This applies to internal communications, client-facing work, and any public representation of IjyaLabs.

2.2 Zero tolerance for harassment

IjyaLabs has zero tolerance for harassment of any kind. Harassment includes, but is not limited to:

• Verbal or written harassment — offensive comments, slurs, jokes, or threats directed at an individual or group.
• Physical harassment — unwanted physical contact or intimidating conduct.
• Sexual harassment — unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, or conduct of a sexual nature that creates a hostile or uncomfortable environment. IjyaLabs complies with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
• Cyberbullying or online harassment — harassment conducted through digital channels, including email, messaging, and social media.

2.3 Client interactions

Our team is expected to maintain professional boundaries in all client interactions. Clients are expected to extend the same courtesy to our team. We reserve the right to discontinue an engagement if client conduct becomes hostile, abusive, or unsafe for our team members.

2.4 Conflicts of interest

Team members must disclose any personal or financial interest that could influence — or be perceived to influence — advice given to a client. Where a conflict cannot be adequately managed through disclosure, the individual must recuse themselves from the relevant engagement or decision.

2.5 Reporting and resolution

Reports of conduct violations should be submitted to legal@ijyalabs.in. Reports are investigated within 10 business days. Substantiated violations result in corrective action up to and including termination of the working relationship. Retaliation against anyone who makes a good-faith report is itself a violation of this policy.

3. Engagement & Refund Policy

3.1 Scope of advisory engagements

All advisory engagements are scoped in writing before work begins. The scope document defines deliverables, timelines, frameworks in scope, and any limitations. Work outside the agreed scope requires a written change order before it is carried out.

IjyaLabs provides advisory, readiness, and gap-analysis services only. Our work does not constitute a formal audit, certification, or legal opinion. Only a licensed independent auditor or accredited certification body can issue a SOC report, ISO 27001 certificate, or equivalent formal assurance. Our conclusions are based solely on the information and evidence you provide.

The IjyaLabs Consult platform is currently in open beta and under active testing. It is provided for evaluation and readiness-preparation purposes only. Do not use it as the basis for a live compliance decision, a statutory submission, or regulatory reliance. IjyaLabs is a sole proprietorship with no professional indemnity, errors-and-omissions, or business liability insurance, and no separate entity to which liability can be transferred — see the liability terms in our Terms of Service.

3.2 Payment terms

Payment terms are specified in the engagement agreement. Unless otherwise agreed:

• Platform subscription fees are charged at the start of each billing period and, except for the specific platform-access refund right in §3.4, are non-refundable once the period has begun.
• Consulting retainer fees are invoiced monthly in advance.
• Project-based fees are invoiced according to the milestone schedule in the engagement agreement.

3.3 Cancellation

Either party may terminate an engagement with 14 days' written notice. Upon termination:

• Work completed up to the termination date is invoiced and payable.
• Any pre-paid fees for undelivered milestones are refunded within 14 business days, less reasonable costs already incurred.
• Deliverables completed and accepted before termination remain the client's to use under the terms of the engagement agreement.

3.4 Refund policy for platform access

A platform-access refund is available only if, during the first 30 days after purchase, there has been no authenticated use of the account beyond initial sign-in and setup — no assessment created, no evidence or other content uploaded, no report generated, and no AI analysis or control mapping triggered. Where these conditions are met, you may request a full refund within 30 days of purchase. Requests should be sent to legal@ijyalabs.in with your registered email and order reference. The refund determination is based on our system logs and records.

Once the platform has been actively used in any of the ways described above, no refund is available for the current or any prior billing period.

3.5 Disputes

Any dispute specifically regarding the accuracy of an invoice or the acceptance of a deliverable must be raised in writing within 15 days of the invoice date or deliverable delivery, or it is deemed accepted for billing and acceptance purposes. This 15-day window governs invoice and deliverable acceptance only; it does not shorten the good-faith negotiation period or the governing-law and jurisdiction provisions in our Terms of Service, which apply to disputes generally. We aim to resolve all disputes through direct discussion first; unresolved disputes are subject to the jurisdiction of courts in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.

4. Client Data & Confidentiality

4.1 What counts as confidential

All non-public information shared by a client in connection with an engagement — including but not limited to business processes, security architecture, audit findings, financial data, employee records, system configurations, and evidence documents — is treated as confidential from the moment it is shared.

4.2 How we handle client data

We do not proactively collect, source, or generate client engagement content from public or third-party sources. Every document, evidence file, and assessment answer on the platform is submitted voluntarily by the client, for the sole purpose of that client's own engagement. Separately, we collect and retain limited operational data (account, billing, security, and support records) needed to operate the Service and comply with applicable law — this is described in full in our Privacy Policy. Client engagement content provided during advisory engagements is used solely to deliver the agreed services. We do not:

• Share client data with third parties except as required to deliver the service (e.g., AI processing of uploaded evidence) or as required by law.
• Use client data to train AI models or benchmark against other clients without explicit written consent.
• Retain identifiable client evidence documents beyond the period needed to complete the engagement, unless a longer retention period is agreed in writing.

Nothing in this section limits our right to retain operational records, logs, invoices, or records required by applicable law.

4.3 AI processing of evidence

The IjyaLabs platform uses AI models to extract and analyse text from documents you upload as evidence. This processing is performed by third-party AI providers under data processing agreements that restrict use to inference only — your data is not used to train or improve their base models. The specific AI provider in use at any time is not disclosed on-screen in production environments; you may request this information by contacting us.

4.4 Storage and security

Evidence files and assessment data are stored in Cloudflare's infrastructure (database and, where applicable, object storage). Access is restricted to your account and authorised IjyaLabs personnel involved in your engagement. Data in transit is protected by TLS 1.3. Data at rest is encrypted by Cloudflare's storage layer. The specific storage jurisdiction (data region) is not currently pinned to a fixed geography; contact us at legal@ijyalabs.in if your engagement requires a specific data-residency commitment before uploading regulated data.

4.5 Data retention and deletion

Assessment data and evidence files are retained for the duration of your active subscription or engagement, plus a 90-day grace period after account closure. After the grace period, file content is permanently deleted and only a tombstone record (hash, dates, and deletion audit trail) is retained, as described in our Privacy Policy. You may request earlier deletion at any time by contacting legal@ijyalabs.in.

4.6 Mutual confidentiality

Confidentiality is mutual. IjyaLabs does not disclose the identity of clients, the frameworks they are preparing for, or the findings from their engagements without explicit consent. We may reference the type of work we do (e.g., "ISO 27001 readiness for a fintech client") in general marketing only in fully anonymised form and only where the description cannot reasonably identify the client.

4.7 Legal disclosure

We may disclose confidential information if required by law, court order, or regulatory authority. Where legally permitted, we will notify the affected client before disclosure.

5. Governing Law, Jurisdiction & Notices

5.1 Governing law

This policy, and any dispute, claim, or matter arising out of or in connection with it — including disputes relating to engagement terms, refunds, client data handling, confidentiality, consent, content accuracy, copyright, or trademark — shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India.

5.2 Exclusive jurisdiction

The courts of Nagpur, Maharashtra, India shall have exclusive jurisdiction over all disputes, contradictions, claims, and legal proceedings arising out of or related to:

• This Company Policy or any other IjyaLabs policy document.
• Any advisory engagement, service agreement, or platform subscription.
• Consent given or withdrawn in connection with use of the platform.
• Content published by IjyaLabs, including website content, reports, and advisory outputs.
• Intellectual property matters, including copyright, trademark, trade dress, or alleged infringement.
• Any other matter involving IjyaLabs and a client, user, contractor, or third party.

By using our services or engaging with our platform, all parties irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts at Nagpur, Maharashtra, and waive any objection to proceedings in those courts on grounds of inconvenient forum.

5.3 Service of notices

To the extent permitted by applicable law, all formal notices, legal demands, or communications required or permitted under this policy — including notices of dispute, claims of copyright or trademark infringement, content removal requests, consent withdrawals, and contradictions of published content — should be served in writing and addressed to:

Notices sent by email are deemed received on the next business day following transmission, provided no delivery failure notification is received. Notices sent by registered post are deemed received five business days after dispatch. Nothing in this section limits any notice method or timing required by applicable law.

5.4 Copyright & trademark claims

If you believe that content published by IjyaLabs infringes your copyright or trademark, send a written notice to legal@ijyalabs.in containing:

• Identification of the work you claim is infringed and the specific IjyaLabs content you believe infringes it.
• Your name, contact details, and (for copyright claims) a statement that you are the rights holder or authorised to act on their behalf.
• A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorised by the rights holder, their agent, or applicable law.

IjyaLabs will investigate valid notices and respond within 15 business days. Where an infringement claim is upheld, we will remove or correct the content promptly.

5.5 Dispute resolution process

Before initiating formal legal proceedings, parties are encouraged to attempt resolution through direct written communication sent to legal@ijyalabs.in. IjyaLabs will respond to all written disputes within 10 business days. If the dispute is not resolved within 30 days of the initial written notice, either party may proceed to the courts at Nagpur, Maharashtra.

6. Contact

Questions or concerns about any policy in this document should be directed to legal@ijyalabs.in.

For privacy-specific queries, see our Privacy Policy. For terms governing platform use, see our Terms of Service.