Partner terms

1. Who these terms cover

These terms are between India-Shine Business Support Services ("watu", "we") and any person or business that takes part in the watu partner programme ("you"): channel partners and agencies, agents working under an agency, affiliates, and watu customers who use refer and earn.

By applying, by using a partner link or code, or by using the partner portal, you agree to these terms. They apply together with the watu Terms of use and Privacy policy. If we sign a separate written agreement with you, that agreement decides wherever it differs from this page.

2. Joining and approval

Applying is free. There is no joining fee, deposit or stock to buy.

Every application is reviewed. We may accept or decline an application at our discretion, and we need not give a reason.

You must be at least 18 years old and legally able to enter a contract in India. You must give true and complete details and keep them up to date.

Your path (agency, agent, affiliate or refer and earn), your commission or partner cost, and any monthly target are confirmed to you in writing or in the partner portal before you start. Nothing on the website is an offer of a fixed rate.

3. Your own brand (white label)

Selling watu under your own name, logo and web address is available only to agencies that buy plans in bulk for resale, and only after our written approval.

We may set conditions for approval, such as a minimum purchase, and may withdraw approval if those conditions stop being met or these terms are broken.

Under your own brand you are responsible for what you promise your clients, for your prices, and for first-line contact with them. The watu Terms of use continue to apply to how the product may be used.

4. Which clients count

A client counts as yours when a new business signs up through your link, your code or your partner portal, and that record is accepted in our system.

• The business must be new to watu. A business that is already a customer, was a customer in the last 60 days, or is already in sales talks with us or with another partner, does not count.
• Where two partners claim the same client, our system record of the first valid signup decides.
• The client must make its first payment within 90 days of signing up through your link.
• Your own accounts, accounts of your family or staff set up to earn commission, and accounts you control do not count.

We may contact and serve any business directly, whether or not it came through you.

5. How earnings are worked out

You earn only on amounts that watu has actually received from a client for a watu plan or Add-on covered by your path.

• Earnings are worked out on the amount net of GST, payment gateway reversals, discounts, credits, refunds and chargebacks.
• Charges that Meta or a network bills for messages, and one-time custom work, do not earn commission unless we have told you in writing that they do.
• Agencies earn the difference between the price the client paid and the partner cost that applied on the date of the bill.
• Agents earn the share agreed with their agency. Affiliates earn the commission shown in the partner portal. Refer and earn gives bill credit, not cash.

Only one earning is paid on any client payment, apart from the agreed share between an agency and those working under it.

6. When you are paid

Earnings are grouped by sign-up month: the calendar month, from the 1st to the last day, in which a client you brought signs up and makes its payment.

All clients of one sign-up month go through a cooling period for the whole of the next calendar month. During it the client uses its account, and its payment must stay in place.

The eligible earnings of that sign-up month are paid by the 15th of the month after the cooling period, to the referrer, agency or other partner each client is recorded against. For example, every client who signs up in October, whether on the 1st or the 20th, cools from 1 to 30 November, and the eligible earnings are paid by 15 December. That is 45 days after the sign-up month closes.

An earning is eligible only if the client's payment has not been refunded, cancelled or reversed by the end of the cooling period.

The same cycle applies to each later payment the client makes: it is grouped by the month it is paid in.

The amount eligible in each cycle, and the client payments behind it, are shown in your own partner account at all times.

• Payment is by bank transfer in Indian rupees to an account in your own name.
• We may hold small balances until they reach a minimum payout amount shown in the partner portal, and carry them forward.
• If you do not give the details needed to pay you within 6 months of an earning being recorded, that earning lapses.

7. Tax, rules and compliance

Every payout is subject to the laws, rules, regulations and tax compliance that apply at the time to watu, to you or to the payment, whether they apply now or come into force later.

• We deduct tax at source (TDS) under the Income-tax Act and any other tax or levy the law requires, and pay you the balance. We give you the TDS details for your own filing.
• GST is handled as the law requires. If you are registered for GST you must raise a valid tax invoice for your earnings and file your returns; GST is paid to you only against such an invoice.
• Before any payout you must give your PAN, bank details and, if registered, your GSTIN, and complete any identity check we ask for. Without a PAN, tax is deducted at the higher rate the law sets.
• We may hold a payout until the documents, declarations or filings the law requires are in order, and we are not liable for a delay caused by this.
• You are responsible for your own income tax, GST and any licence or registration your business needs. Nothing we pay you includes our advice on your taxes.

8. Refunds and reversals

If a client's payment is refunded, reversed or charged back, the earning on that payment is cancelled.

If the earning was already paid to you, we may recover it from your later earnings or ask you to return it.

We may hold back a payout while we look into a suspected breach of these terms, for as long as the review reasonably takes.

9. How you may sell

• Describe watu accurately. Do not promise results, sales, Meta approval, a Blue Tick or delivery rates that we do not promise ourselves.
• Do not send unsolicited bulk messages, emails or calls to promote watu, and follow India's rules on commercial communication.
• Do not run adverts on the watu name or close misspellings of it, or build pages that could be mistaken for watu's own.
• Do not offer cashback, a share of your commission, or any payment to a client for signing up, unless we have approved it in writing.
• Say clearly that you are an independent partner and, where the law or a platform requires it, that you may earn from a recommendation.
• Do not collect money from a client for a watu plan in your own name unless you are an approved agency billing under your own brand.

10. Using the watu name and material

While you are a partner you may use the watu name, logo and material we give you, unchanged, only to promote watu.

You may not register a business name, web address, app or social handle that contains the watu name, or suggest that you are watu or its employee.

You must stop using the name and material as soon as the partnership ends or we ask you to.

11. Targets and your working account

Agencies and agents may be given a working watu account for their own use and for demonstrations. It stays active while you meet the monthly number of new paying clients agreed when you join.

If the number is missed we may, after a reminder and a period of grace, pause that account until it is met again. Your earnings on existing clients are not affected by a pause.

12. Client data and confidentiality

Clients own their data. You may open a client's account only with that client's permission and only to help them.

Partner costs, commission rates, client lists and anything else we share that is not public are confidential, during the partnership and after it.

You must follow the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and other data laws that apply to you.

13. Your relationship with us

You are an independent business or individual. Nothing here makes you an employee, agent, franchisee or legal representative of watu, and you cannot make commitments on our behalf.

You bear your own costs and taxes. You earn nothing for recruiting other partners; earnings come only from clients paying for watu plans.

The programme is not exclusive. We may appoint other partners in any area and sell directly.

14. Changes to the programme

We may change commission rates, partner costs, targets, payout rules or these terms. We will tell you by email or in the partner portal at least 15 days before a change takes effect, unless the law or misuse requires a faster change.

A change does not reduce an earning already recorded for a payment received before the change took effect.

If you do not agree with a change you may leave the programme. Continuing after the change takes effect means you accept it.

15. Ending the partnership

You may leave at any time by writing to us. We may end the partnership by giving you 15 days' notice.

We may end it at once, without notice, for fraud, self-referral, spam, misleading selling, misuse of the watu name, breach of confidentiality, or any act that harms watu or its customers.

• If we end it on notice without a breach by you, earnings on client payments received up to the end date are paid in the normal cycle.
• If we end it for a breach, or you leave while a breach is under review, unpaid earnings are cancelled.
• After the end date no new earnings arise, and your clients remain watu customers.

16. Limits of our responsibility

The programme, the partner portal and referral tracking are provided as they are. Tracking can fail, for example when a person clears cookies or signs up without your link, and we are not liable for an earning missed for that reason.

We do not promise any level of sales or income. Examples and calculators on our website are illustrations.

To the extent the law allows, our total liability to you under the programme is limited to the earnings paid or payable to you in the 12 months before the claim arose. Neither side is liable for indirect or consequential loss.

You will make good any loss we suffer from a claim by a third party that arises from your breach of these terms or of the law.

17. Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of India. Please write to us first; most questions are settled by email.

Questions about the partner programme: info@watu.in.