The Bankers’ Books Evidence Bill, 2026

INTRODUCTION

The Bankers’ Books Evidence Bill, 2026 represents a significant attempt to bring India’s law relating to banking records into the digital age. Introduced in the Lok Sabha on 3 August 2026, the Bill seeks to repeal and replace the Bankers’ Books Evidence Act, 1891, a statute enacted at a time when banking records were predominantly maintained in physical ledgers. The Bill was subsequently passed by Parliament on 10 August 2026.

The reform is particularly important because the legal framework governing bank records must now operate alongside the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA), which replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and introduced a contemporary framework for electronic evidence.

THE TRANSITION FROM 1891 ACT TO THE 2026 BILL

The central purpose of the Bankers’ Books Evidence Act, 1891 was procedural rather than substantive. It did not create a new category of banking rights; instead, it simplified the process by which entries in bank records could be proved before a court.

Under Section 4 of the 1891 Act, a certified copy of an entry in a banker’s book could be received as prima facie evidence of the existence of the entry and could be admitted to prove the matters, transactions and accounts recorded in it, to the same extent as the original entry.

The 2026 Bill therefore expands the concept of “bankers’ books” to expressly accommodate records maintained in electronic, digital, virtual and cloud-based environments.

The 1891 Act proceeded on the assumption that a certified copy of a bank record could provide an efficient substitute for the original. The 2026 framework develops this principle for electronic records by prescribing specific certification requirements.

This becomes particularly significant when considered alongside Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.

Section 63 establishes the statutory conditions under which information contained in an electronic record or computer output may be admitted in evidence without production of the original electronic device or record. The provision addresses matters concerning the production and reliability of computer outputs and provides a statutory mechanism for their evidentiary authentication.

The Bankers’ Books Evidence Bill, however, provides a specialised mechanism by which the bank can certify the relevant banking record. It is designed to avoid the unnecessary production of original banking systems, servers or databases.

The 2026 Bill moves beyond the relatively simple concept of a certified physical copy and introduces certification requirements adapted to electronic records. This provides courts with a clearer statutory basis for determining the authenticity of digital banking documents.

The approach is consistent with the larger philosophy of the BSA: electronic evidence should not be treated as inherently inferior to physical evidence merely because it exists digitally. Instead, the law should establish conditions through which its reliability can be demonstrated.

Another important improvement concerns the protection given to bank officers.

Under Section 5 of the 1891 Act, where the bank was not a party to the proceedings, a bank officer could not ordinarily be compelled to produce the bank’s books or appear as a witness concerning their contents unless the court made an order for “special cause”.

The difficulty was that the expression “special cause” was not expressly defined.

The 2026 Bill seeks to provide greater certainty by identifying circumstances in which such intervention may be justified, including situations involving doubt concerning the accuracy of records, interruption in regular record-keeping or failure to comply with an inspection order.

Another notable feature is the power to extend the statutory framework to other financial entities through notification.

The 1891 Act contained a power permitting the Government to extend its provisions to partnership firms or individuals carrying on banking business and maintaining specified account books.  The 2026 Bill modernises this concept by permitting the Union Government to extend the framework to financial entities beyond traditional banks.

The Bill brings changes to the procedural framework concerning the production of banking records during investigations.

Section 11 has attracted attention because, in specified investigative circumstances, references to an order of the court may be construed as an order made by an officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police, or another officer specified by the appropriate Government.

The 1891 Act established the basic principle that certified bank records could be used instead of requiring production of original books. The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 subsequently created a general framework recognising electronic records and prescribing conditions for their admissibility. The 2026 Bill now seeks to create a specialised banking-records framework capable of functioning within that digital evidentiary environment.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the Bill  attempts to answer a more fundamental legal question: how should a court authenticate and rely upon financial records when the original record no longer exists as a physical book, but as data distributed across electronic, virtual and cloud-based systems!