Kolkata, Nov 8 (PTI) Union Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday said demonetisation in 2016 has hastened economic growth in the past two years.

His statement came on the same day when rating agency Moody's changed its outlook on India rating to 'negative' from 'stable' citing lower economic growth.

"The demonetisation has instead hastened economic growth in the past two years," Vardhan said when asked to react on allegations of opposition parties that demonetisation has caused the current slump in economic growth.

The minister was in the city to address a session on the India International Science Festival.

Reacting to the rating change, the government said the fundamentals of the economy remained quite robust and a series of reforms undertaken recently would stimulate investments.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)