Privacy Policy

Last updated 20 October 2026

The short version. Sindhi Business Network is a directory of Sindhi-owned businesses. Business owners give us their account and business details, and approved listings are public. Visitors who want a business’s phone number or address leave their name, phone and email, and we pass those to that business as an enquiry. We run no analytics, show no ads and do not sell your data. By using the Platform you agree to the practices described below.

This Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal data on the Sindhi Business Network website at sbnworld.com and the SBN Portal mobile app (together, the “Platform”). It forms part of our Terms & Conditions.

By visiting the Platform, creating an account, listing a business, unlocking a business’s contact details, posting a review or otherwise submitting information, you confirm that you have read and understood this policy and you consent to the collection, use, storage and sharing of your personal data as described here. If you do not agree, please do not use the Platform or submit any information to it.

You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us (see section 21). Withdrawal does not affect anything we did lawfully before it, and some features, such as keeping a listing or seeing contact details, cannot work without the data they need.

2. Who we are

The Platform is operated by SBN World, based in Vadodara, Gujarat, India, and developed by iAppSolution Technology (“we”, “us”, “our”). For the purposes of India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 we are the data fiduciary for the personal data described in this policy.

3. Business owners and members

When you register you give us your name, email address, a password and your business name. We store only a one-way hash of the password and cannot read it back. From the dashboard you can then add the details that make up your listing: a description, category, phone, email, website, street address, city, state and postcode, opening hours, founding year, a logo, a cover image, gallery photos, and products or services with prices.

A listing goes live only after an admin approves it. Once approved, the following are public to anyone on the internet and may be indexed by search engines: business name, description, category, city and state, logo, cover and gallery images, opening hours, founding year, products and prices, and approved reviews. You choose what to put in your listing, and by submitting it you agree to it being published.

Your phone number, email, website and street address are shown only to visitors who have left their own contact details (see section 4), to you, and to admins.

4. Visitors who unlock contact details

To see a business’s phone, email, website or full address you enter your name, phone number and email. We store those, together with which businesses you unlocked, when, and how many times.

By unlocking a business’s contact details you agree that we may share your name, phone number and email with that business as an enquiry, and that the business may contact you about it. Admins can see the same information. Once a business has received your details, how it uses them is its own responsibility (see section 19).

We set a cookie called sbn_lead so you do not have to fill in the form again. It holds a random token and nothing else, and lasts one year.

5. Reviews

You can leave a star rating and comment on a business after unlocking its contact details. Reviews are hidden until an admin approves them. An approved review shows your name, rating, comment and the date publicly. Your phone and email are never shown with it. We may decline, edit for formatting or remove any review at our discretion.

6. The networking ledger

Members can record one-to-one meetings with other members, references they pass on, and business they receive. A reference can include a customer’s name, phone number, email and what they need. It is visible to the member who received it and to admins.

If you enter another person’s details, you confirm that you have their permission to do so. You, not us, are responsible for having that permission.

7. Events

Events published on the Platform show the organiser’s name, venue, address, dates, ticket price and registration link publicly.

8. Uploaded images

Logos, cover images and gallery photos are stored on our own server. Each image is re-encoded on upload, which removes embedded metadata such as camera details and location, and is given a random file name. Product images are links you supply, not uploads.

9. How we use your data

We use the data described above to:

create and run your account and publish your listing;
pass enquiries from visitors to businesses;
moderate listings, reviews and other content;
send you service emails, such as password resets and notices about your account or listing;
display and promote the directory, including showing public listing details on the Platform, in search results and in posts that feature member businesses;
keep the Platform secure, prevent fraud, spam and abuse, and enforce our Terms;
maintain, fix and improve the Platform; and
comply with the law and respond to lawful requests from authorities.

We do not sell or rent your personal data to anyone.

Businesses you contact. As described in section 4.
The public. Approved listing details and reviews, as described in sections 3 and 5.
Service providers. Our hosting provider and our email provider, which process data on our behalf only to run the Platform.
Legal and safety. Courts, police or regulators where the law requires it, or where we reasonably believe it is needed to protect our rights, our members or the public.
Business transfers. A successor organisation if the Platform is merged, sold or reorganised, on the condition that it continues to protect your data under a policy at least as protective as this one.

Business pages link to Google Maps and WhatsApp. Nothing is sent to either until you tap the link, after which their own privacy policies apply.

11. Cookies, sessions and logs

The website sets two cookies: a sign-in session cookie that lasts 30 days, and the sbn_lead cookie described in section 4. Both are needed for the features they support. There are no analytics, advertising or third-party cookies.

Our web server keeps ordinary access logs (IP address, time and requested path) to keep the Platform running and investigate abuse. When you ask for a password reset we also record the IP address of the request, and the emailed link works for one hour.

12. The mobile app

SBN Portal is for business owners and admins. It asks for access to your photo library only when you choose a logo, cover or gallery photo. It does not use your location, contacts, camera or microphone and sends no push notifications. It keeps a sign-in token, valid for 30 days, in your phone’s secure storage.

13. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including hashed passwords, encrypted connections and restricted admin access. However, no website, app or method of storage or transmission is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for keeping your password confidential. If we become aware of a breach that affects your personal data, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.

14. Retention and deletion

We keep accounts, listings, contact-unlock records, reviews and ledger entries for as long as your account is active or as long as they are needed for the purposes in section 9. Business owners can delete their own products, photos, events and ledger entries from the dashboard at any time.

To delete your account, listing, contact record or review, send the request through the deletion request form, or email us from the address on your account, or with the phone and email you gave when unlocking contact details. We will delete it within a reasonable time, except where we must keep some data to comply with the law, resolve disputes, prevent fraud or enforce our Terms. Copies in routine backups are overwritten in the normal backup cycle.

15. Your rights

Subject to applicable law, including India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you may ask us to:

tell you what personal data we hold about you;
correct or update it;
delete it;
withdraw your consent; and
nominate another person to exercise these rights for you.

Send requests to the contact in section 21. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request, and we may decline requests that are manifestly unfounded, excessive or not required by law. If you are outside India, you may have similar rights under your local law.

16. Your responsibilities

Give accurate information and keep it up to date. We are not responsible for the consequences of inaccurate data you provide.
Upload only content, photos and personal details you have the right to share.
If you are a business, use enquiry details only to respond to the enquiry, handle them lawfully, and do not sell or pass them on.
Do not scrape, copy or harvest other members’ data from the Platform.

17. Children

The Platform is for businesses and their customers and is not meant for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has given us data, contact us and we will delete it.

18. Where data is stored

Your data is stored on servers operated by our hosting provider. Because the directory serves the Sindhi community worldwide, your data may be accessed from or processed in countries other than your own. Where we do so, we take reasonable steps to keep it protected as described in this policy and as required by law.

19. Limits of our responsibility

We are responsible for how we handle your data on the Platform. We are not responsible for:

how a business, member or other user handles data you choose to share with them, including enquiry details passed on at your request;
information you choose to make public in a listing, review or event;
the privacy practices of third-party websites and services linked from the Platform; or
unauthorised access caused by your failure to keep your login details secure.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the disclaimers and limitations of liability in our Terms & Conditions apply to this policy. Nothing here limits any right you have that cannot be limited by law.

20. Changes and governing law

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the “last updated” date at the top of this page, and for material changes we will tell you through the Platform or by email. Continuing to use the Platform after a change takes effect means you accept the updated policy.

This policy is governed by the laws of India, and the courts at Vadodara, Gujarat, India have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of it.

21. Grievance officer and contact

Questions, requests and complaints about your personal data can be sent to our grievance officer at info@iappsolution.com. We will acknowledge your message and aim to resolve it within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may approach the Data Protection Board of India.