Terms of service

1. Agreement to these terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Aarambh platform ("Aarambh," the "Service"), operated by Nivaara Consulting, a sole proprietorship registered in India ("we," "us," "our"). By accessing or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

If you use the Service on behalf of an organisation, you confirm you have authority to bind that organisation to these Terms.

2. Definitions

• Employer or Recruiter: a person or organisation that uses Aarambh to post roles, review applicants, and manage hiring.
• Candidate: a person who applies to a role through Aarambh.
• Content: any data, text, files, job postings, screening questions, resumes, or other material submitted to the Service.
• Platform Materials: the software, interfaces, scoring outputs, and documentation that make up the Service.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service. By using Aarambh, you confirm that you meet this requirement and that the information you provide is accurate.

4. Accounts

Recruiter access requires an account. You are responsible for the activity under your account, for keeping your credentials secure, and for ensuring that everyone you authorise to use your account complies with these Terms. Notify us promptly at privacy@1aarambh.com if you believe your account has been compromised.

Candidates may apply without an account. Optional sign-in is available to track application status.

5. What the Service does

Aarambh helps Employers run a hiring workflow: posting roles, collecting applications, and reviewing candidates with the assistance of AI-generated scores and summaries.

AI outputs, including the resume score and the advisory fit score, are decision-support tools only. They are advisory, may contain errors, and do not constitute a hiring recommendation that you are obliged to follow. Every decision to advance, reject, or contact a Candidate is made by the Employer. We do not make hiring decisions and are not a party to the employment relationship between an Employer and a Candidate.

6. Employer and Recruiter obligations

As an Employer, you agree that you will:

• Use the Service only for genuine recruitment for real, lawful roles
• Comply with all applicable laws, including employment, anti-discrimination, and data protection law
• Post accurate job information, and not post misleading roles, fee-based roles, or fraudulent listings
• Make your own lawful decisions about Candidates, and not rely on AI outputs as the sole basis for any decision
• Handle Candidate personal data you receive lawfully, including providing any notices and meeting any obligations that apply to you as a recipient of that data
• Not use Candidate data for any purpose other than recruitment for the role applied to

Data protection roles (DPDP Act, 2023)

6.1 Employer as Data Fiduciary. For personal data of candidates ("Data Principals") submitted through the Employer's job postings and screening forms, the Employer is the Data Fiduciary. The Employer determines the purpose and means of processing such data, is responsible for issuing the consent notice and lawful basis at the point of collection, and warrants that it has the authority to have Aarambh process such data.

6.2 Aarambh as Data Processor. In providing the screening, scoring, scheduling, and outreach features, Aarambh acts as a Data Processor on the Employer's documented instructions. Aarambh shall: (a) process candidate personal data only to provide the Service and as instructed; (b) apply reasonable security safeguards; (c) engage subprocessors only as listed on our Trust page, and remain responsible for them; (d) assist the Employer in responding to Data Principal rights requests and breach notifications; and (e) on termination, delete or return candidate personal data save for an audit skeleton retained as permitted by law.

6.3 Aarambh as Data Fiduciary for its own purposes. Where a candidate provides separate, specific consent at intake to inclusion in Aarambh's talent pool, Aarambh acts as Data Fiduciary for that talent-pool sourcing and is independently responsible for the consent, notice, and Data Principal rights for that purpose. This processing is distinct from, and not on behalf of, any Employer. Aarambh does not use candidate personal data to train foundation models.

6.4 No re-characterisation. Nothing in the Service causes Aarambh to become the Data Fiduciary for the Employer's hiring decisions, which the Employer makes and controls.

7. Candidate terms

As a Candidate, you agree that the information you submit is accurate and your own, and that you will not impersonate another person or submit unlawful content.

8. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service to violate any law or the rights of others
• Upload malware, attempt to breach security, or interfere with the Service
• Scrape, copy, or extract data from the Service except as the Service intends
• Reverse engineer or attempt to derive the source code of the Platform Materials
• Resell or provide the Service to third parties except as expressly permitted

9. Fees

Fees for the Service are set out in the order form or quote agreed between you and us. Unless stated otherwise there, fees are exclusive of applicable taxes (including GST), and billing, renewal, and refund terms are as described in that agreement.

10. Intellectual property

We own the Platform Materials and all related intellectual property. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Service in accordance with these Terms.

You retain ownership of the Content you submit. You grant us a limited licence to host, process, and use that Content solely to provide and improve the Service, subject to our Privacy Policy. We do not use Candidate personal data to train AI models.

11. Third-party services

The Service relies on third-party providers, including cloud hosting, AI model providers, and email delivery, listed on our Trust page. It may also connect to external tools you choose to use, such as calendar or scheduling services. We are not responsible for third-party services, and your use of them may be subject to their own terms.

12. Data protection

Our handling of personal data is described in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms. By using the Service, you acknowledge that policy.

13. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available." To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose and accuracy of AI outputs. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that any hiring outcome will result from its use.

14. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim relating to the Service shall not exceed the greater of the fees paid in the twelve months preceding the claim or ₹20,000, and in no event shall either party be liable for indirect or consequential damages, or for any hiring decision, loss of opportunity, or loss of data arising from use of the Service.

14.1 Exceptions to these limitations

The limitations and exclusions set out in this Section 14 shall not apply to:

• liability arising from fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, or willful misconduct by either party;
• liability arising from a party's gross negligence;
• the Employer's obligation to pay fees due under these Terms; and
• any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from claims arising out of your use of the Service, your Content, or your breach of these Terms or of any law, including employment or data protection law.

16. Term and termination

These Terms apply while you use the Service. We may suspend or terminate access if you breach these Terms, use the Service unlawfully, or create risk to the Service or other users. You may stop using the Service at any time. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination, including intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, and indemnification, will survive.

17. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms as the Service or the law evolves. Material changes will be reflected by the "Last updated" date, and continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.

18. Governing law and dispute resolution

18.1 Governing law. These Terms are governed by the laws of India.

18.2 Jurisdiction. The courts at Hyderabad, Telangana shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms, subject to any applicable law that provides otherwise.

19. Intermediary status, grievances, and contact

Intermediary status (IT Act, 2000)

19.1 Hosted content. To the extent Aarambh receives, stores, or transmits job postings, resumes, messages, and other content provided by Employers or candidates without selecting or modifying that content, Aarambh acts as an intermediary under Section 2(1)(w) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and claims the protections of Section 79.

19.2 AI-generated outputs are not hosted content. Scores, summaries, rankings, candidate notes, and other outputs generated by Aarambh's systems are Aarambh's own processing and are not third-party content for which intermediary protection is claimed.

19.3 Due diligence. Aarambh shall observe the due-diligence obligations applicable to intermediaries, including publishing terms of use, a privacy policy, and prohibited-content rules, designating the Grievance Officer named below, and acting on valid complaints or takedown notices within the timelines prescribed by law.

19.4 Prohibited content. Employers and candidates shall not upload content that is unlawful, fraudulent (including fee-demanding or scam job postings), infringing, or otherwise prohibited under the applicable Intermediary Guidelines. Aarambh may remove such content and suspend the responsible account.

Grievances and contact

For any question or complaint about the Service or these Terms, contact our Grievance Officer: