Of the three banks NDTV visited in rural Haryana, only one got requests to open accounts.
A fortnight after announcing its bold move to ban old 500 and 1000-rupee notes as part of its battle against black or unaccounted money, the government on Friday said that the barred currency can no longer be exchanged and must be deposited in banks.
But, are people willing to deposit their savings and are banks willing to open accounts for those who don't have them? To find out, NDTV spoke to people in rural Haryana and Delhi, two very different worlds faced with similar challenges.
Rinku Yadav, 18, works as a security guard in Haryana's Pachgaon village. He got his salary in old notes on Thursday, and now is very worried.
"Never felt the need to make a bank account. I don't know how to open an account. This was a very wrong move," says Mr Yadav, the sole breadwinner in his family.
Across Langra and Pachgaon in Haryana, those without bank accounts, and with little income and savings, find themselves hard-pressed.
"They should have notified of this or increased the date of exchanges. For daily needs also they will feel problems," says Captain Sube Singh, the sarpanch of Pachgaon.
Of the three banks NDTV visited in rural Haryana, only one got requests to open accounts. Local bank officials said got a few requests to open accounts in the last two weeks but not enough.
"We have got five requests as of now to open accounts and we will process them within a day or two," said Syndicate Bank's manager Bhupesh Piplani.
However, just 90 kilometres away in Delhi's Nizamuddin, the response is mixed.
42-year-old Shamim, a cook, has been living in the national capital for over 20 years. He is worried about his savings in the absence of a bank account. Despite an Aadhar card, he says, he has been unsuccessful so far.
"I've had an Aadhar card for five-six years. When I went to open a bank account, they asked for security. They (banks) won't open an account for me," said Shamim.
But for Mohammad Faizan, a young resident of the same neighbourhood, the cash ban has become an occasion to open a bank account.
"For our small savings we now have to go to the bank, but due to the long queues there, don't think we will be able to open an account soon," said Mr Faizan.
While at one end in Haryana people feel the compulsion to open bank accounts, at the other end in Delhi some of those willing to open bank accounts are faced with multiple misapprehensions.