The Lok Sabha passed the Bankers' Books Evidence Bill, 2026, via a voice vote without any debate on Wednesday.
The new legislation will repeal and replace the colonial-era Bankers' Books Evidence Act of 1891.
The bill redefines "bankers' books" to include physical, electronic, digital, virtual, and cloud-based records.
Lok Sabha Passes Bankers' Books Evidence Bill Amid Protests
The Bill seeks to bring a 135-year-old evidence law into the digital banking era by giving electronic, cloud-based and digitally stored bank records a clearly defined legal status while imposing safeguards for authenticity, integrity and cybersecurity
Summary
The Lok Sabha passed the Bankers' Books Evidence Bill, 2026 via voice vote without debate on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, and the House was later adjourned for the day.
The Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 2026 will repeal and replace the British-era Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1891.
The passage occurred amid ongoing disruptions during the Monsoon Session, which began on July 20, 2026.
It is primarily an evidentiary reform rather than a reform in the country's banking system.
Modernizing Financial Evidence
The bill redefines "bankers' books" to encompass records maintained in physical, electronic, digital, virtual, cloud-based or technology-neutral formats. Digital and electronic records are now admissible in physical or electronic form.
These records can be authenticated by manual, digital or electronic signatures. Admissibility requires the records to be certified true copies free from system tampering or unauthorised modifications.
The 1891 Act relied strictly on physical paper ledgers and lacked standardised certification protocols for digital-first trails like mobile banking and UPI.
The bill also introduced provisions to make sure that bank officials are not compelled to appear in court to produce banker’s books when the bank is not a party to the litigation.
Protests and Adjournments
Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House until 2 pm after protesting members disrupted the Question Hour.
Birla said raising slogans inside or outside the House "is not good for democracy".
Opposition protests focus on police action against students protesting the NEET paper leak at Jantar Mantar and in other parts of the country. Members are also protesting the alleged donation theft at the Ayodhya Ram temple.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju addressed the ongoing disruptions. Rijiju said Congress leader KC Venugopal "is a good person", but is unable to control his party's MPs.
He also blamed the opposition for the bill being passed without discussion.
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“People have gotten the message from the opposition's continuous disruptions that they don't want the House to function. The Finance Minister brought an important bill, and it was passed without discussion. This has happened because of the opposition,” he said.
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