Terms of service

01Agreeing to these terms

By creating an account or using Lavaka, you agree to these terms. If you use Lavaka on behalf of an institute, you confirm that you are allowed to accept these terms for it. If you do not agree, please do not use Lavaka.

02Who can use Lavaka

• You must be 18 or older.
• You must give true, current details when you sign up, and keep them up to date.
• You must be allowed to use services like ours under the laws that apply to you.

03Your account

• One person per account. Do not share your login, even within your lab. Labs and departments can add each member through institutional access.
• Keep your password safe. You are responsible for what happens in your account.
• Tell us straight away at support@lavaka.net if you think someone else has used your account.
• You can log in with email and password, Google, your institution's single sign-on, or an institutional access code.

04Institutional access

• Your institute decides which platforms its users can open. You can use only those platforms through institutional access.
• An access code is for members of that institute only. Do not share it publicly or with anyone outside the institute.
• Credits for institutional users are provided by the institute under its own agreement with Lavaka. Some platforms are offered to institutes through plans that are not credit-based, such as unlimited use or access to several platforms. Those plans follow the institute's agreement.
• If you leave the institute, or the institute ends its agreement or removes you, your institutional access ends.

05Credits

• Individual accounts: 1 credit = ₹1, including GST. When you pay through our payment gateway, credits are added to your balance once the payment is confirmed. Recharging adds credits to your existing balance.
• Minimum purchase: 30 credits for individual accounts. Institutes buy at least 10,000 credits, at a price per credit that depends on where the institute's containers are hosted. See Pricing.
• Using credits: each platform uses credits at its own rate, only while you have it open. SAMAR uses 1 credit per minute. Time is counted by the minute, and part of a minute counts as a full minute. Rates are shown before you start.
• Free credits: during our introductory offer, each individual account can request 100 free credits once. They are added after we approve the request.
• Credits can be used only on Lavaka. They cannot be exchanged for cash or moved to another account.
• We may change rates in the future. We will tell you before a change applies, and a change never reduces the credits already in your balance.
• Expiry: all credits, paid or free, expire 12 months after they are added to your balance. Your oldest credits are used first.
• Refunds: credits are refunded only when an analysis fails because of a problem with our platform, as our Refund and cancellation policy explains. Credits bought by institutes are not refundable.

06Your data and results

• You own your data and results. We claim no rights over them.
• You give us only the permission we need to process your data while your session is open. That permission ends when the data is deleted, within 60 minutes after the session ends.
• Download your results before you close your session. We do not keep copies or backups of research data, so we cannot recover it later.
• Upload only data you have the right to use. If it includes personal data about other people, such as farmers or survey respondents, you are responsible for having their consent or another lawful basis.
• We never send your data to any AI model. See our Privacy policy.

07Fair use

Please do not:

• break any law, or upload illegal, harmful or infringing content;
• upload data you have no right to use;
• try to reach other users' data or containers, or get around security, credit metering or limits;
• attack, overload or disrupt Lavaka, or upload malware;
• copy, resell or rebuild our platforms, or use automated tools to misuse them;
• share your login, or share an institutional access code outside the institute.

08If something goes wrong

We always warn you first. If we believe you have broken these terms, we will write to you, explain the problem and give you a reasonable time to put it right before we suspend or close your account.

• If an activity is harming the service or other users at that moment, we may pause that activity while we talk to you, without suspending your account.
• If the law requires us to act at once, we will do what it requires and tell you as soon as we are allowed to.
• If you disagree with a decision, write to support@lavaka.net and we will review it.

09Using our results

Our platforms are built to give tested, reproducible results, and we show the evidence behind each answer. Results support your research decisions, but they do not replace your expert judgement. Please check that a method suits your data and question before you rely on it or publish it. You remain responsible for the conclusions you draw.

10Availability and changes

We aim to keep Lavaka available around the clock. Sometimes it may be unavailable for maintenance or because of problems outside our control. We may add, change or retire features as our platforms grow. If a change affects paid features you rely on, we will tell you in advance.

11What belongs to Lavaka

The Lavaka platforms, software, designs and name belong to LAVAKA LLP. While your account is open, we give you a personal right to use them under these terms. This right cannot be transferred. Your data and results stay yours, as section 06 says.

12Limits of liability

As far as the law allows, LAVAKA LLP is not liable for indirect losses, such as lost profits or lost opportunities, or for data you did not download before it was deleted. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under Indian consumer law that cannot be limited.

13Closing your account

• You can close your account at any time by writing to support@lavaka.net.
• We delete your account details as our Privacy policy describes. Remaining credits are not refunded, as our Refund and cancellation policy explains.
• We may close an account only after warning you, as section 08 describes.

14Law and disputes

These terms follow the laws of India. If there is a disagreement, please write to us first so we can try to settle it together. If we cannot, the courts of India will decide it.

We may update these terms. We will change the date at the top and, for important changes, tell you by email or on the site before they apply. If you keep using Lavaka after that, you accept the new terms.

15Contact

Questions about these terms? Write to LAVAKA LLP at support@lavaka.net.