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Last updated on 12 June, 2026
This Recruit Researcher Privacy Policy explains how Poocho Research Technologies Private Limited ("Poocho", "we", "us", "our") collects, uses, and handles personal data relating to Researchers — the Users who access or use Recruit, our participant recruitment and research product.
This policy covers the personal data Poocho collects about you in your capacity as a Researcher. It does not cover personal data that Participants provide during your studies or surveys — that is governed by the Participant Privacy Policy. Your responsibilities in relation to Participant data are set out in the Recruit Product Terms, particularly clause 4.
Where this policy uses terms defined in the Platform Terms or the Recruit Product Terms, they have the same meaning.
Poocho Research Technologies Private Limited operates the Platform. For the Researcher personal data described in this policy, Poocho is the data fiduciary — we decide why and how we collect and use that data, and we are responsible for complying with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 ("DPDPA") in connection with it.
Our registered office is at E5/10 Salunke Vihar, Kondhwa, Pune 411022, India. Our grievance officer is identified in section 13.
We collect the following categories of personal data from Researchers:
Account data. When you register on the Platform, we collect the information you provide: your name, email address, phone number, job title, and organisation name.
Study and project data. When you create or manage studies and surveys on Recruit, we collect the information you input — study names and descriptions, screener and discussion guide content, survey designs, session configurations, and other material you create on the Platform in your capacity as a Researcher. This is data about your use of the Platform and your research setup; it is distinct from Study and Survey data (personal data of Participants that you collect during a study or survey, which is covered in section 5).
Usage and analytics data. We automatically collect data about how you use the Platform — including the features you access, session frequency and duration, browser type and version, device type, IP address, and referring URLs. We do not currently use third-party analytics tools on the Researcher-facing platform. Usage data is collected through our internal infrastructure.
Payment and billing data. If you have a paid subscription or load funds into Poocho Pay, we collect the billing information associated with your account. Credit card and payment details are processed and stored by our payment processor (Razorpay). We do not store raw card data ourselves.
Communications. If you contact us — for support, account queries, or grievances — we keep a record of that correspondence.
We use Auth0 to manage authentication on the Platform. If you sign in using Google, we receive your email address, name, and profile picture from Google via Auth0. Email-based passwordless authentication does not involve a third-party identity provider.
We use your personal data to:
We do not use your personal data to train artificial intelligence or machine learning models. We do not sell your personal data or share it with third parties for their own marketing purposes.
We do not share your personal data with third parties except in the following circumstances:
Sub-processors. We use third-party service providers to help us operate the Platform and provide Recruit. We describe these in section 6 and list them on our Sub-processor List.
Legal obligations. Where we are required to disclose your data under applicable law, court order, or regulatory requirement.
Business transfers. In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a material part of our business, your data may transfer to the successor entity, subject to the protections in this policy.
With your consent. For any other purpose you have specifically authorised.
Poocho is the data fiduciary for the personal data described in section 2. We decide why and how we collect and use that data, and this policy sets out our obligations to you as a data principal.
When you conduct a study or survey on Recruit, you — not Poocho — are the data fiduciary for the personal data you collect from Participants. For Studies, this includes screener responses, session recordings, transcripts, and any other session materials you gather. For Surveys, this includes screener responses and survey question responses. Poocho processes that data on your behalf as a data processor, to the extent set out in the Recruit Product Terms and any applicable Data Processing Addendum.
As the data fiduciary for Study and Survey data, you are responsible for the lawfulness of that collection — including obtaining any necessary consents from Participants, giving them appropriate notice of how their data will be used, and complying with the DPDPA and any other applicable data protection law. Your obligations are set out in the Recruit Product Terms, particularly clause 4.
When a Participant deletes their account on the Platform, we will notify you. On receiving that notification, you must promptly delete or anonymise any personal data you have collected from that Participant, in line with clause 4.3 of the Recruit Product Terms.
When a study or survey is deleted from the Platform — at the end of the one-year retention period or on your request — your obligations in relation to data you have previously downloaded from that study or survey are set out in clause 6.3 of the Recruit Product Terms. In summary, you must delete or anonymise all personally identifiable information from any data you have downloaded, and you assume full data fiduciary responsibility for that data from the point of deletion.
We use third-party service providers ("sub-processors") to help us operate the Platform and provide Recruit — including hosting providers, payment processors, communications providers, and, where applicable, research partners providing moderation or research manager services.
Every sub-processor that processes personal data relating to Researchers is bound by a written contract with Poocho requiring confidentiality, appropriate security, and purpose limitation. We list our sub-processors on the Sub-processor List, which is published on our website and kept current.
We remain responsible to you for the acts and omissions of our sub-processors in respect of your personal data, subject to the limitations in the Platform Terms.
Some of our sub-processors process personal data outside India. The location of processing for each sub-processor is set out on the Sub-processor List. We take steps to ensure that cross-border transfers of personal data are made only in compliance with applicable requirements under the DPDPA as notified from time to time.
We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you request deletion of your account:
Study and survey data is retained on the Platform for up to one year after a study or survey is closed, in line with clause 6.1 of the Recruit Product Terms. You can request deletion of a study or survey at any time after it closes. When a study or survey is deleted, we delete all Participant-related data associated with it, subject to the exceptions described in clause 6.2 of the Recruit Product Terms.
We do not retain your personal data for longer than we need it. When we no longer have a lawful basis or legitimate purpose to retain your data, we delete or anonymise it.
We implement technical, organisational, and physical security measures to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, and loss.
No security measure is absolute. In the event of a personal data breach affecting your data, we will notify you without undue delay in line with our obligations under the DPDPA and any applicable agreement between us.
Recruit is intended for use by organisations and individual professionals. We do not knowingly collect personal data from individuals under 18 years of age through the Researcher registration flow. If you become aware that personal data of a minor has been submitted to Poocho in connection with a Researcher account, please contact us at grievance@poocho.co.
Separately, if your study or survey involves Participants who are under 18, you must comply with the requirements in the Fair Use and Acceptable Use Policy and the Recruit Product Terms, and obtain Poocho's prior written approval before the study or survey deploys.
Under the DPDPA, you have the following rights as a data principal in relation to the personal data Poocho holds about you as a Researcher:
Right to access. You may ask us to confirm what personal data we hold about you and obtain a summary of it.
Right to correction. You may ask us to correct personal data that is inaccurate or incomplete.
Right to erasure. You may ask us to erase your personal data where we no longer have a lawful basis to retain it, subject to our legitimate business purposes and legal obligations described in section 8.
Right to nominate. You may nominate another person to exercise your DPDPA rights on your behalf in the event of your death or incapacity.
To exercise any of these rights, contact our grievance officer as set out in section 13. We will acknowledge your request within 7 business days of receipt. We will process and respond to your request within 30 days, and in any case within 90 days as required under the DPDP Rules 2025.
These rights apply to personal data Poocho holds about you as a Researcher — your account data, usage data, billing data, and communications. They do not extend to Study or Survey data (for which you are the data fiduciary), or to Participant data that Poocho holds as your processor.
We may update this policy from time to time as the Platform evolves and our data practices change. We will give you reasonable notice of any material change in line with the change-of-terms process in the Platform Terms. If you continue to use the Platform after a material change takes effect, you are taken to have accepted the updated policy.
For any questions, concerns, or complaints about how Poocho handles your personal data — including to exercise your rights under section 11 — please contact our grievance officer:
Name: Taapsi Ramchandani Email: grievance@poocho.co
We will acknowledge your communication within 7 business days of receipt. We will process and respond within 30 days, and in any case within 90 days as required under the DPDP Rules 2025.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may approach the Data Protection Board of India in line with the DPDPA.
For general questions about your Recruit account or this policy, write to researcherdesk@poocho.co.
For DPDPA grievances and data principal rights requests, use the grievance officer contact in section 13.
