KYC & Document Policy

1. Provider identity documents

Every provider — car owner or bike rider — must submit and keep current the following identity documents:

• Aadhaar — for identity verification. Stored hashed; only the masked form (xxxx-xxxx-1234) is displayed.
• PAN — required for payouts (TDS reporting) and identity verification.
• Address proof — typically Aadhaar or a utility bill, not older than 3 months.
• Selfie — matched against the uploaded ID document during verification.
• Driving licence — front + back image. Licence number stored hashed. The expiry date on the licence is tracked automatically.

2. Vehicle documents

Each vehicle registered on the platform requires:

• Registration Certificate (RC) — the platform tracks the RC's registration_valid_until field.
• Vehicle Insurance — at minimum third-party; commercial cover required where you carry paying passengers.
• Fitness Certificate — for vehicles above the statutory age threshold (per the CMV Rules, 1989).
• PUC (Pollution Under Control) — renewed per the validity printed on the certificate.
• Permit / NOC / Roadworthy — required only where state-specific transport rules apply to commercial passenger vehicles.

3. Document categories by role

Document requirements are tailored to the role you operate:

• Car owner (4-wheeler): identity (Section 1) + RC + insurance + fitness (if age-applicable) + PUC.
• Bike rider (2-wheeler): identity (Section 1) + RC + insurance + PUC.
• Commercial permit: where state law requires a commercial-passenger permit, you must upload it before accepting any paying passenger.

The platform will not require documents that are not legally required for your vehicle class.

4. Upload & verification

Documents are uploaded through the in-app flow as image (JPEG / PNG) or PDF files. Each upload:

• Is validated for type, size and basic readability.
• Is stored in private object storage with a signed-URL access pattern; public URLs are never generated.
• Enter a verification queue reviewed by trained operators and, where available, matched against official sources.

Review typically completes within 1–3 business days. Status updates are pushed to the provider's in-app notification feed.

5. Approval / rejection

• Approved: the document is marked verified; routes can be published once all required documents are approved.
• Rejected: the document is marked rejected with a reason (e.g. "image unreadable", "name mismatch", "document expired"). You can re-upload a corrected version.
• Repeated rejection may trigger fraud review.

6. Re-submission

You may re-upload a document at any time by opening the document from your provider profile and selecting Replace. The new version enters the verification queue and, once approved, replaces the previous version. The previous version is retained in the document history for audit.

7. Expiry monitoring

The platform's automated expiry monitor runs once a day (at 03:30 IST) and sends notifications at:

• 60 / 30 / 15 / 7 / 1 day milestones before expiry;
• 0 day (the expiry day itself);
• and afterwards for already-expired documents.

Notifications are sent to:

• You (the provider) via in-app + Firebase push, with a "Upload renewed document" call-to-action.
• Admin (super_admin + ops_admin) so the operations team can review and act where needed.

Duplicate alerts at the same milestone are suppressed (one alert per (document, milestone)). When you upload a renewed document, the milestone is reset so the next milestone alert fires correctly.

8. Renewal

Renewal is a 3-step flow:

1. You renew the document with the issuing authority.
2. You upload the renewed document through the in-app Replace flow.
3. The platform verifies and updates the expiry date; your routes resume (if previously paused) the moment verification is approved.

9. Document history

Every document has a version history. The currently approved version is shown by default; older versions are kept for audit and are accessible to authorised admins and to you (the provider) for download.

10. Storage & access control

Document files are stored in private object storage. Access is granted via short-lived signed URLs to:

• the provider themselves,
• authorised admin operators handling verification or fraud review,
• the Travel Sathi safety team on verified SOS escalation.

Access is logged. Public URLs to documents are never generated.

11. Fraudulent documents

Submitting fabricated or tampered documents is treated as fraud. Detection relies on:

• visual inspection by trained operators;
• official-source matching where available (e.g. Vahan for RC);
• pattern detection (duplicate images, metadata mismatches, fake fonts).

Detection leads to immediate suspension, ledger adjustments and possible referral to law enforcement.

12. Suspension

Continuing to operate with expired KYC, driving licence, RC, insurance, fitness or PUC is not permitted. The platform does not automatically suspend providers solely for expiry — the admin team reviews each case and provides a remediation window. Continued operation with expired documents after notice is grounds for route pause and account suspension.

13. Contact

For document or KYC questions, write to kyc@travelsathi.online or to our Grievance Officer at grievance@travelsathi.online.

Registered entity: Travel Sathi · GSTIN 07DEWPD8824J1ZU