Generation and maintenance of electronic records
Rule 57 of the CGST Rules
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Electronic records must be backed up so they can be restored within a reasonable time, and on demand the registered person must give the officer access, the passwords and the audit trail.
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The exact words of the law
871 characters, uneditedReproduced from the CBIC text. We explain it above — but you should always be able to read it yourself.
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(1) Proper electronic back-up of records shall be maintained and preserved in such manner that, in the event of destruction of such records due to accidents or natural causes, the information can be restored within a reasonable period of time .
(2) The registered person maintaining electronic records shall produce, on demand, the relevant records or documents, duly authenticated by him, in hard copy or in any electronically readable format.
(3) Where the accounts and records are stored electronically by any registered person, he shall, on demand, provide the details of such files, passwords of such files and explanation for codes used, where necessary, for access and any other information which is required for such access along with a sample copy in print form of the information stored in such files.
Where this comes from
Text reproduced from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, as available on 2026-09-05. The explanation and practice notes above are GSTZone’s own, written for this hub. If you spot anything out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it — this hub is checked daily against CBIC.
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