Privacy Policy

FindMyBranch (“we,” “us,” “this site”) is an independent tool built and run by Dr. Rajiv Marechal (a proprietorship, Udyam registered) to help NEET-PG candidates estimate realistic college and specialty options from their exam rank, using historical MCC, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and other state counselling allotment data. This policy explains what information the site collects when you use it, why, and what your options are.

Contact: support@findmybranch.com. Our postal address is on the Contact page.

1. Information you enter to get results

When you use the tool, you enter your rank (or marks, if you don’t have your rank yet — and, for Tamil Nadu state counselling, your separate TN GRANK once you have it), category, preferred counselling pathway, course, and optionally a government/management seat preference, specialty, and state. These answers are sent to our server, which works out your results and sends them back. For a visitor who has not paid, nothing is kept after that: we do not keep a record of what you searched for. Your list of past searches is kept in your own browser. If you have paid, we also keep your latest search for each counselling board with your email, so we can tell you what changed after each round (see 2D) and so Nova remembers it (see 2C). If you ask us to email you your free seats, your answers are used once more for that and still not kept (see 2E).

2. Information collected to process payment

The free preview requires nothing beyond the answers above. To unlock the complete results for a one-time payment, we ask for your email address and mobile number. The mobile number is passed to the payment page (the payment company shows it there and may use it to confirm the payment); we remember it only in your own browser, so you do not have to type it again, and do not keep it in our database. Your email is:

• Sent to Cashfree (our payment company) to create the payment and take your card/UPI/netbanking payment — we never see or store your card, UPI, or bank details ourselves; the payment company handles that directly.
• Stored in our database (hosted on Supabase) once payment is confirmed, linked to a record that you’ve paid, so you can restore access later from the same or a different device using the “Already paid? Restore access” option.
• Used, if needed, to contact you about a problem with your specific payment or access (for example, the refund scenario described in our Refund Policy).

We never ask for your postal address. We ask for your name only where a person needs it: when you ask for a call with Dr. Rajiv Marechal (see 2C). If you paid by UPI directly (an option shown only when the payment page is down), we keep your email, the UPI reference you type and your payment screenshot until the payment has been checked; the screenshot is then deleted.

2A. Resident comments

If you choose to share a comment about a college, on a result card or on the “Check your college” page, we do not ask for any proof of identity — just your comment, and a checkbox confirming you trained or worked there. The site operator reads every comment before it goes live and publishes it only if approved. The comment is published anonymously, without your name, email or any other identifier. Comments that name an individual are not published. Approved comments are shown on the result cards and, to visitors who have paid for the unlock, on the “Check your college” page.

2B. Email address for NEET-PG notice alerts

On the NEET-PG updates page you can ask to be emailed when an official NEET-PG notice appears (or join from the free-seats box under your results, see 2E). If you do, we store your email address, the date you signed up, and which page you signed up from — nothing else, apart from a WhatsApp number if you tick the WhatsApp box there (see 2E). We use your email for one purpose only: sending you those alerts. Signing up this way is double opt-in, meaning we send one confirmation email and add you to the list only when you click the link in it; if you never click, nothing further is sent. If you unlock the full results (a paid purchase), the email address you paid with is added to this same alert list automatically, without a separate confirmation click — you are already relying on that inbox for your receipt and for “Restore access,” so we treat completing a purchase as consent to the same alerts, in place of the click. Either way, the alert emails are delivered by Resend, an email delivery provider, and every one of them carries a one-click unsubscribe link that takes effect immediately. These alert emails are never used for marketing, and the list is never shared or sold (WhatsApp updates, only if you tick that box, are in 2E); unsubscribing never affects your unlock. If you have unlocked results and saved colleges to your shortlist, we also use that shortlist for one thing: when an official notice names one of those colleges (or its state), we email you about that notice specifically, once per notice. The same unsubscribe link stops these too.

2C. The counselling expert (paid chat)

If you buy the counselling expert, the messages you send it and its replies are stored against the email you paid with so it can remember your situation between visits, along with short facts it extracts from what you tell it (for example “prefers Karnataka”) and the latest search you ran on the site (your board, rank, category and choices), so it never has to ask for them again. Your messages are sent to Anthropic, the provider of the model that answers, under its API terms; they are not used to train its models. You can delete the whole conversation and the remembered facts at any time from the chat, and everything is deleted automatically at the end of the counselling season. If you ask for a call, the name and phone number you give are sent to Dr. Rajiv Marechal by email and kept until the season ends. The expert’s answers are informational, not counselling or medical advice.

2D. Keeping you updated after you buy

If you have paid, we keep, with your email: your latest search for each counselling board and a short summary of what your report showed (to tell you what changed, on the site and by email, when a new round’s results come out); the days you opened your report (only to count how many people come back); what you mark on the My counselling page (registered, choices filled, the seat you got, joined) and, if you tell us, which seat you got in a round. We use your seat only to guide you and to understand how rounds go; we never show it to anyone or publish it with your name. Round-update and deadline emails come to the same address as your other alerts and have the same one-click unsubscribe. If you turn on phone alerts, your phone’s browser gives us an address to send them to; we keep it with your email until you turn alerts off. If you share your refer-a-friend link, we keep a code for you and note when a friend paid with it, so we can give you the reward. Links in our emails use a random code instead of your email address. All of this is deleted when you ask us to delete your data.

2E. Getting your free seats by email

Under the free preview you can ask us to email you the seats it shows. If you do, our server works out the same free seats again from your answers and sends them to the email address you give; the answers are not stored, and the email carries only what the free preview already shows (college, course, seat type and closing rank). Resend delivers it. We also add your address to the alert list in 2B as not yet confirmed: the email with your seats has the confirmation link, and you get alerts only if you click it. If you do not click, that email is the only one we send. The box asks for your agreement with a checkbox that starts unticked.

WhatsApp is optional. Under the email field is a box, unticked to start, that says “Send me counselling updates on WhatsApp”; the number field appears only when you tick it. If you tick it and give your number, we keep the number with your email address and the time you ticked the box, and we may send you counselling updates and offers from FindMyBranch on WhatsApp. If you leave it unticked, we do not keep a number at all. The same box, also unticked to start, is on the short details form you fill in after paying; the WhatsApp number you give there is kept on your account, and we send you updates and offers on WhatsApp only if you tick it. These messages are delivered through Meta’s WhatsApp marketing messages, so Meta processes your number to deliver them. Your number is never sold. You can stop at any time: reply STOP to any of our WhatsApp messages, or email support@findmybranch.com, and the number is deleted when you ask us (see 6).

2F. Where you came from

If you arrive from a link with campaign tags (for example from one of our Instagram or Facebook posts, or from one of our own emails or notifications), a small first-party cookie called fmb_attr keeps those tags for 30 days. If a link has no tags, it keeps the name of the app that opened it (for example Instagram or WhatsApp) or just the word “direct”. When you pay, they are saved with the order so we can tell which post or campaign led to it. It holds only campaign tags (source, medium, campaign), whether the click came from a Meta or Google ad, the referring website’s name, or the app name or “direct” described above; never your email, rank or name. It is not shared with anyone.

3. Cookies and local storage

On your first visit, you’re shown a cookie banner where you can accept or decline non-essential cookies. If you accept, this site uses Google Analytics to understand site traffic, the Meta Pixel to see which Facebook and Instagram posts bring visitors, and Google Ads’ conversion tag to see which Google ads led to a purchase, all of which set their own cookies; if you decline, none of them run at all. This site shows no ads. Separately, your browser’s local storage (not a cookie, but similar in effect) is used to remember that you’ve already paid and what cookie choice you made, so you’re not asked either question again on a repeat visit from the same browser. Full detail is in our Cookie Policy.

Affiliate links. Our PG essentials page links to products on Amazon.in and Flipkart through their affiliate programmes (Amazon Associates and the Flipkart Affiliate programme). If you click one, Amazon or Flipkart may set a cookie on their own site to record that you came from FindMyBranch, so we can earn a small commission if you buy; the price you pay is the same. These cookies are set and controlled by Amazon or Flipkart under their own privacy policies, and only after you click through to their site. We do not receive your name, address, payment details or what you bought — only order totals and commission reports.

4. Who we share data with

Your push-notification address (2D) goes through your browser’s own push service (Google, Apple or Mozilla, depending on your browser) so the alert can reach your phone.

We do not sell your data to anyone, for any reason.

5. How long we keep your data

A visitor’s rank/category/course answers are not stored. For Nova customers, the saved search and chats are deleted at the end of the counselling season (see 2C). Your email and paid status are kept for as long as the site offers access to a completed purchase — practically, indefinitely, unless you ask us to delete it (see below).

If you subscribed to notice alerts, your address is kept until you unsubscribe. An unsubscribed row is kept as a record that the address opted out, so it is never mailed again; ask us and it is deleted outright. The same goes for an address given in the free-seats box (see 2E), whether or not you clicked its confirmation link, and for a WhatsApp number given there.

6. Your choices

You can ask us to delete your email and payment record at any time by writing to the contact address below — note that this will also end your ability to restore access without paying again. You can decline Analytics, the Meta Pixel and ad personalization entirely via the cookie banner shown on your first visit (see Cookie Policy), or separately decline ad personalization at any time via Google’s Ad Settings.

7. Security

We take reasonable steps to protect the information we hold (payment processing through a regulated processor, a managed database with access controls) but, as with any online service, we can’t guarantee absolute security. Please don’t send us sensitive information (like your actual payment card number) by email.

8. Children’s use

This tool is built for NEET-PG candidates, who by definition have already completed an MBBS — this service isn’t directed at children, and we don’t knowingly collect data from minors.

9. Governing law

This policy is written with reference to India’s Information Technology Act, 2000, the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (whose substantive obligations are being phased in and are not all yet in force as of this writing).

10. Contact / Grievance Officer

For any privacy question, correction request, or complaint, contact Dr. Rajiv Marechal at support@findmybranch.com. We’ll aim to respond within a reasonable time.

11. Changes to this policy

If this policy changes materially, the “Last updated” date above will change, and for significant changes we’ll consider a more visible notice on the site itself.