Confidentiality of Client Information
Uday Shetty & Associates treats client information as confidential in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. This is a professional confidentiality obligation, not a legal privilege — the firm complies with lawful requisitions, summons, and orders from statutory and regulatory authorities.
Client Data Inception & Statutory Scopes
In accordance with the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act 2023, the Chartered Accountants Act 1949, and our professional charter, Uday Shetty & Associates acts strictly as a specialized Data Fiduciary. We do not aggregate or harvest personal data indiscriminately; every ingestion of personal, financial, or corporate intelligence is purpose-bound to specific retainer engagements.
Statutory verification encompasses Beneficial Ownership (UBO) structures, Know Your Customer (KYC) documentation mandated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) registries, and court-mandated affidavits.
Your Absolute Statutory Rights (DPDP Act 2023)
Under Section 11 through Section 14 of the DPDP Act 2023, corporate representatives, directors, and individual clients retain fundamental statutory prerogatives across our ecosystem:
Processing Scope & Regulated Transmission
Data received under a formal Letter of Engagement is transmitted exclusively through secure legal pipelines. Regulated transmissions take place only under direct client instructions or compulsory statutory obligation to:
Cryptographic Custody Standards
Confidentiality & Non-Disclosure
Communications with Uday Shetty & Associates are treated as confidential in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Confidentiality under the Code of Ethics is a professional obligation; it is not the same as legal professional privilege, which under Indian law attaches to communications with advocates.
Fiduciary Duty & Non-Disclosure Guarantee
Every associate, article assistant, and accounting professional operating within the firm executes a perpetual, unalterable Deed of Confidentiality upon admission. This fiduciary covenant survives the conclusion, dissolution, or termination of any retainer relationship without temporal limit.
The Code of Ethics of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India requires a member not to disclose information acquired in the course of professional work without the client’s consent, except where disclosure is required by law or by a regulatory or professional authority.
This obligation covers advisory opinions, audit working papers, draft schemes, and negotiations. It is a professional duty owed to the client and is not legal professional privilege. Where a court, tribunal, or revenue authority lawfully requires production of records, the firm is obliged to comply, and will inform the client wherever it is permitted to do so.
Authorized corporate signatories may trigger a DSAP audit at any interval. The firm delivers an encrypted digital manifest within 7 calendar days, outlining:
- All active data silos containing entity records.
- Access logs containing timestamps and designated personnel identities.
- Third-party filing submissions executed on sovereign portals (MCA, RBI, ITD).
Retention & Digital Shredding Charters
Legal records are governed by dual mandates: the imperative to preserve statutory proof for corporate audit cycles (Section 128 of the Companies Act, 2013 mandates 8 years of books of account) versus the DPDP Act requirement to purge data when purpose is exhausted.
Statutory Sunset Schedules
Digital Shredding: All sanitized physical documents are destructively shredded using DIN 66399 Level P-4 equipment. Electronic media is overwritten using NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 1 cryptographic erasure.
Dispute Resolution, Retainer Terms & Jurisdiction
Retainer engagements with Uday Shetty & Associates are subject to our formal Professional Services Agreement (PSA). In the event of any interpretive variance, the provisions of the executed engagement letter supersede this general platform charter.
Any disputes arising from retainer covenants, advisory outputs, or billing schedules shall be resolved through arbitration seated in Pune, conducted in accordance with the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, by a sole arbitrator mutually appointed by the parties.
Subject to arbitration stipulations, the Courts of competent jurisdiction at Pune, Maharashtra shall have sole and exclusive venue authority.
Adhering to the First and Second Schedules to the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 and the Code of Ethics issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.