Several Indians in the Gulf nations are having a harrowing time ever since the Centre withdrew the Rs 2,000 notes, with a lot of them saying that the banking institutions in the region are claiming they aren’t aware of the policy change. The RBI made the announcement on May 19, but gave the public time till September 30 to either deposit the notes in accounts or exchange them at banks.

Firoza Sheikh (name changed), who landed in Dubai last week, went to an exchange centre with eight notes, but she was told, “We have instructions from the management not to exchange Rs 2,000 notes.”  Several netizens have also shared reports of the Rs 2,000 notes being refused by exchange centres across the Gulf region. NRI businessman Chandrashekhar Bhatia of the Global Federation said many people he knows are stuck with Rs 2,000 notes.