the week AFTER i booked my ticket from Tanzania to India the crazy government in India did something shocking. they demonitized [withdrew from circulation] the two largest bank notes. they provided a window of a few weeks for citizens to turn in old notes but weren't able to provide new notes. this failed effort to combat corruption came with a few catastrophic results. basically it was a disruption of a cash based economy. hours long lines for new notes. hours long lines to turn in the maximum number of old notes. atm were not prefitted to accommodate the new larger notes so any withdrawal became a guessing game - requiring you to find an atm with cash and then make multiple requests for different amounts. 
India is a cash based society and that's not going to change anytime soon. so the locals are used to finding workarounds for stupid things the government does. the taxi drivers were a great source of information here. they knew which atms had cash and in what denominations you could get cash. they knew which shops would take old notes, where to use credit cards, etc.the problem for travelers is that a coconut or a rickshaw ride might cost 10 rupees and all you had in your wallet was 500 or 1000 rupee notes and a street vendor couldn't make change.
India was still in the throes of this failed transition while i was there and it was a minor inconvenience for me but a very tangible income hit for the locals.
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