Bharti Airtel on Monday said it does not collect sensitive personal information of customers, other than their name and address proof, after the telecom operator’s new privacy policy sparked concerns about infringement of individual privacy, PTI reported. The company claimed the changes were unintended and were made because of a drafting error on their website.

“We emphatically confirm that we do not collect any personal information relating to genetic data, religious or political beliefs, health or sexual orientation, etc,” the telecom said. “This was a clerical error.” Airtel’s Privacy Policy details the company’s definition of sensitive personal data and information, or SPDI, for legal matters, and what it does with it.

On October 8, the telecom company had updated its online privacy policy on their website to say it may collect sensitive personal data of users that range from their ethnicity and race to their political opinions, religious beliefs and sexual orientation, and also share it with third parties.

The policy said that it may transfer users’ personal information to companies both in and outside of India, but added that all entities handling users’ data agree to follow Airtel’s guidelines for the “management, treatment and secrecy of personal information”. There’s another document that details what the promise entails, according to NDTV.

The new privacy policy generated severe backlash on social media after some Twitter users shared screenshots and details of the data-related disclosures.

When asked why it was seeking to collect such sensitive personal data, an Airtel spokesperson told BloombergQuint on October 17 that the policy mentions expansive definitions which “may not be warranted and can be misconstrued”. “We’ll re-evaluate the Policy and make necessary amends,” the spokesperson had said.

However, a day later, Airtel amended its privacy policy to remove clauses on data collection regarding users’ ethnicity and race, political opinions, religious beliefs and sex life. In its statement, the telco said a clerical error caused inadvertent sharing of information on its website and thanked the subscribers who flagged the issue.

“The generic content of the definitions of what constitutes personal data as laid down by the IT Act are expansive, which had been inadvertently put on to our website,” it said. “We thank those who brought this error to our attention.”