The Rajya Sabha on Monday passed the Bankers’ Books Evidence Bill, 2026, paving the way for digital and virtual banking records to be admitted as evidence in courts, in line with the growing digitisation of the banking system.
The Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 5, seeks to provide a legal framework for the use of bankers’ books as evidence and align it with contemporary digital banking practices.
Replying to the debate on the Bill, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the banking and financial sector has evolved significantly over the past few decades with the emergence of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), payment aggregators, fintech companies and other service providers with a pan-India presence.
These entities play an important role in meeting the banking and financial needs of people and, therefore, need to be provided with a similar evidentiary framework, she said.
Sitharaman said Clause 4 of the Bill enables the Centre to extend the Act to other regulated financial entities through a notification, ensuring a uniform evidentiary framework across the financial sector.
The Bill allows banking records to be produced either in physical or electronic form, as the case may be, she said.
“The Bill strengthens public confidence by providing a clear, secure and transparent legal framework for the use of banking records in legal proceedings while fully safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of customers,” Sitharaman said.