In the dusty village of Dudko, farmers and villagers are desperate for new currency notes after the Indian government banned 500 and 1,000 rupee notes last week in an effort to flush black money out of the economy. Residents of the sleepy village, 75 kms southwest of the capital Delhi, say they are struggling to pay for basic goods like food and fuel in the absence of an effective banking and exchange system.

Much of India’s rural economy is powered by cash transactions with few people having bank accounts or operating one even if they have an account. Villagers, mostly women, swarmed around the gates of Dudko’s only bank branch on Friday to exchange old and defunct currency notes for new 2,000 rupee notes or the old 100 rupee notes still in circulation. They began to lose patience after being told the new notes had not arrived.