Terms & Conditions of Service

Binding Legal Agreement

Please read these Terms and Conditions carefully. By accessing our web application, executing a Statement of Work (SOW), or subscribing to any engineering or marketing sprint plan, you enter into a legally binding contract with Student Forge Technologies Private Limited under the provisions of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

1. Corporate Entity & Preamble

These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) constitute a valid electronic agreement within the meaning of the Information Technology Act, 2000 between:

• Student Forge Technologies Private Limited, an incorporated company having its registered corporate office at HF2R+CCV, Devender Colony, Kompally, Hyderabad, Telangana 500100, India, operating under the commercial brand name Forge Digital Technologies (FDT) (hereinafter referred to as “Company”, “Service Provider”, “We”, “Us”); and
• The individual or corporate entity engaging our services (hereinafter referred to as the “Client” or “You”).

2. Scope of Services & Sprint Execution

FDT delivers professional technology engineering and digital marketing solutions, including but not limited to custom software development, Next.js web applications, iOS/Android mobile applications, CRM/LMS business platforms, AI automated workflows, and performance advertising.

Services are executed under an Agile Sprint Framework (typically 14-day bi-weekly sprint cycles) or as defined in a mutually executed Statement of Work (SOW). Any additions, scope alterations, or feature expansions requested during an active sprint shall be evaluated as a change request and billed under subsequent sprint cycles.

3. Commercial Terms, Invoicing & GST Compliance

All financial transactions and invoicing adhere strictly to Indian statutory tax standards:

• Goods & Services Tax (GST): Services rendered are categorized under SAC Code 998314 (Information Technology & Software Development Services). All quoted fees are exclusive of applicable GST (18% CGST/SGST or IGST) for domestic Indian transactions.
• Export of IT Services: In the case of international overseas clients, services qualify as an “Export of Services” under Section 2(6) of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) Act, 2017, executed under a valid Letter of Undertaking (LUT) without payment of IGST, subject to realization in convertible foreign exchange in compliance with FEMA, 1999 regulations.
• Payment Schedule: Monthly sprint retainers are invoiced in advance at the commencement of each 30-day billing cycle. Fixed-milestone projects require an advance mobilization deposit (typically 30%–50%) prior to sprint kickoff, with subsequent milestone balances due upon delivery to staging.
• Payment Timeline & Interest: Invoices are payable within 7 (seven) calendar days from the date of presentation. In the event of delayed payments, the Company reserves the right to levy commercial interest at the rate of 1.5% per month (18% per annum) in accordance with Indian commercial practice, or suspend active deployment pipelines.

4. Intellectual Property (IP) & Source Code Transfer

In accordance with Section 18 and Section 19 of the Copyright Act, 1957:

• 100% Client Ownership upon Realization: Upon receipt and final bank clearance of 100% of all agreed fees for the respective project or sprint milestone, the Company completely transfers and assigns all bespoke source code, database architectures, graphics, and Figma design assets exclusively to the Client.
• Zero Vendor Lock-in: The Client shall have unhindered rights to modify, host, deploy, license, or sell the completed deliverable without recurring license fees to FDT.
• Third-Party & Open Source Components: Deliverables may incorporate industry-standard open-source libraries (e.g., React, Next.js, Tailwind CSS) distributed under permissive licenses (MIT, Apache 2.0, BSD). These retain their respective licenses.
• Pre-Existing Frameworks: FDT retains ownership of its proprietary internal toolkits, utility scripts, and reusable scaffolding, and grants the Client a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use them solely as embedded within the delivered software.

5. Client Obligations & Material Furnishing

The Client represents, warrants, and covenants that:

• It will furnish all required third-party API credentials, cloud hosting environments, domain configurations, brand logos, and content copy in a timely manner.
• All materials, trademarks, copy, and media assets supplied by the Client to FDT do not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other proprietary right of any third party, and comply with the Information Technology Act, 2000.

6. Acceptance Testing & Post-Launch Warranty

Upon deployment of a sprint milestone to the staging environment, the Client shall have an inspection period of 7 (seven) business days to review and report reproducible deviations from the agreed specifications. If no written defects are reported within this window, the deliverable shall be deemed accepted.

Completed production projects include a complimentary 30-day bug warranty period from the initial production deployment date, during which FDT will remediate any critical bugs or functional defects arising directly from the agreed scope at zero additional cost.

7. Limitation of Liability & Consequential Damages

In accordance with Section 73 and Section 74 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872:

• Under no circumstances shall Student Forge Technologies Private Limited, its directors, officers, or developers be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including loss of profits, loss of data, business interruption, or server downtime.
• The aggregate cumulative liability of the Company arising out of or related to this agreement, regardless of the cause of action (whether in contract, tort, or otherwise), shall strictly not exceed the total fee actually paid by the Client to FDT for the specific sprint or milestone in dispute over the preceding 3 (three) months.

8. Confidentiality & Mutual Non-Disclosure

Both parties agree to hold in strict confidence all proprietary business data, trade secrets, algorithms, customer databases, and technical credentials disclosed during the engagement. This confidentiality obligation shall survive for a period of 3 (three) years following the conclusion of the engagement.

9. Termination & Cancellation Policy

Either party may terminate a monthly retainer engagement by providing 14 (fourteen) calendar days prior written notice via email. Upon termination, the Client shall pay for all sprint hours and milestones completed up to the effective termination date. Completed code repositories and assets developed up to that point shall be handed over upon receipt of outstanding dues.