The Bankers' Books Evidence Bill, 2026, introduced in Parliament on 5 August 2026, seeks to repeal and replace the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1891 — a 135-year-old colonial-era statute — with a technology-neutral legal framework governing the admissibility of bank records in court proceedings. The move aligns India's evidentiary law with its rapidly expanding digital financial ecosystem.

What the Bill Changes

At its core, the Bill broadens the definition of 'bankers' books' to expressly cover physical, electronic, digital, virtual, and cloud-based records, including those stored at back-up and disaster recovery sites. This is a fundamental departure from the 1891 Act, which was drafted when banking meant ledger books and paper trails.

The Bill introduces a two-track certification framework through its First and Second Schedules — separate certification mechanisms for physical and electronic records respectively. Authentication may be done either manually or through digital or electronic signatures recognised under the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Digital Records Now Explicitly Admissible

One of the Bill's most consequential provisions is an explicit bar on courts denying admissibility to electronic or digital bank records solely on the ground that they exist in electronic form. It prescribes detailed statutory safeguards to establish the authenticity, integrity, and cybersecurity of such records — standards that were entirely absent under the 1891 Act.

The Bill also defines 'special cause' for the first time, clearly specifying the limited circumstances in which courts may compel banks to produce records or require bank officers to testify. This addresses a longstanding ambiguity that courts and banks have navigated without statutory guidance.

Scope Extended Beyond Traditional Banks

In a forward-looking provision, the Bill empowers the Central government to extend its legal framework, by notification, to any entity or class of entities operating in the financial sector — including NBFCs, payment aggregators, and fintech intermediaries. This ensures the law is not confined to the 19th-century conception of a 'bank' and can evolve alongside India's increasingly diverse financial ecosystem.

The Scale of India's Digital Finance Shift

UPI alone processed approximately 24,162 crore transactions worth around ₹314 lakh crore in FY 2025-26, with 55.49 crore users onboarded by June 2026. According to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Payment Systems Report, total digital payment transaction volumes surged from ₹6,437 crore in 2021 to ₹26,819 crore in 2025 — a compound annual growth rate of roughly 43%. The existing evidentiary framework had not kept pace with this scale.

Part of a Broader Banking Reform Push

The Bill forms part of the Narendra Modi government's ongoing programme to modernise India's financial sector. It follows the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025, which strengthened bank governance and customer nomination provisions. It also complements broader policy initiatives including Digital India, the JAM Trinity, and the nationwide expansion of digital financial services. Together, these measures signal a legislative intent to build a legal infrastructure that is as modern as the transactions it governs.