Indians could also take the Indian rupee notes when they went on the Haj pilgrimage and exchange them freely for Saudi riyals. Later, the Centre introduced special notes for the pilgrimage with the word "HAJ" inscribed on it. These were called "Haj notes''. This currency was valid till 1966.

This Indian currency was devalued in 1966. This led to several countries in the Gulf withdrawing the use of the Gulf rupee. Gradually, by the early 1970s, all the countries stopped using the Gulf rupee as their currency.

But why was this currency or Haj notes introduced? In 1950s, there was heavy smuggling of gold in India. Due to smuggling India was paying for the illegal import of gold through its foreign reserves. To reduce the strain on India’s foreign reserves, a separate currency was created.

This new rupee note was called as Gulf Rupee and was issued by the Government of India which issued INR 1 note and the Reserve Bank of India which issued rupees 5, 10, 100 notes only to be used as a legal tender outside the country.

These new rupee notes were introduced by a bill passed in both the Houses of the Indian Parliament and with the Presidential assent on May 1, 1959, and were called as the “External Rupee” or the “Gulf Rupee”. This issue of the ‘special notes’ was not a legal tender in India and was exclusively for use in the Persian Gulf.