Last updated: 9 October 2026
Welcome to Kothakoli. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of https://www.kothakoli.in and the Kothakoli mobile app (together, the "Service"). By creating an account or using the Service you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.
1. Eligibility and accounts
- You must be at least 18, or use the Service with the consent of a parent or guardian.
- Give accurate information and keep your password secret. You are responsible for activity on your account.
- One person may not impersonate another person, a writer or an organisation.
2. Your content
- You keep ownership of everything you write and publish ("Your Content").
- By publishing on Kothakoli, you give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, display, format, translate the interface around, promote and distribute Your Content on the Service, in our app, newsletters and social media, for as long as it remains on the Service.
- You confirm that Your Content is your original work or that you have the right to publish it, and that it does not infringe anyone's copyright or other rights.
- You can delete your posts at any time. Copies may remain briefly in backups or caches.
3. Rules of conduct
You agree not to post or do anything that:
- copies someone else's work without permission (plagiarism) — this includes posting copyrighted poems, lyrics or stories by others;
- is defamatory, obscene, sexually explicit, hateful, or promotes violence, terrorism or self-harm;
- harasses, threatens, bullies or invades the privacy of others;
- is false or misleading in a way that could cause harm, or impersonates others;
- is spam, advertising, or tries to manipulate views, reactions, followers, leaderboards or earnings (for example through bots, multiple accounts or view exchanges);
- breaks any law of India or harms the Service (malware, scraping, hacking, overloading).
Full guidelines are in our Community Guidelines.
4. Classic and public-domain works
Works by classic authors on Kothakoli are reproduced from public-domain sources. They are provided for reading and education. Classic author profiles are managed by Kothakoli and do not represent the authors' estates.
5. Coins, gifts and earnings
- Coins are a virtual currency used to send gifts to writers. Coins have no cash value except as described here and cannot be transferred outside the Service.
- Coin purchases are verified manually against the payment reference you provide. Coins are added after verification.
- When readers gift you, you receive a share of the gift as earnings, at the rate shown on the Service. Writers may also earn from unique views at the published rate. We may change rates with notice on the Service.
- Earnings can be withdrawn once you reach the minimum shown in your wallet, to a UPI ID or bank account in your name. You are responsible for any taxes on your earnings.
- We may hold, reverse or cancel coins, gifts or earnings obtained through fraud, chargebacks, errors or violations of these Terms, and may close the account involved.
- Refunds are covered by our Refund Policy.
6. Advertising
The Service shows ads, including Google AdSense and AdMob ads. Ad content is provided by third parties and is not endorsed by us.
7. Moderation and termination
We may remove content, limit features or suspend or terminate accounts that break these Terms or the law, or when required by authorities. You may stop using the Service and request account deletion at any time.
8. Intellectual property
The Kothakoli name, logo, design and software belong to us. You may not copy or reuse them without permission.
9. Disclaimers and limitation of liability
The Service is provided "as is". We do not guarantee it will always be available or error-free. To the maximum extent allowed by law, we are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, or for content posted by users. See our Disclaimer for more.
10. Indemnity
You agree to compensate us for claims arising from Your Content or your violation of these Terms.
11. Changes
We may update these Terms. Continued use after changes means you accept the updated Terms.
12. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of India. Courts at Kolkata, West Bengal have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to applicable consumer law.