Arvind Kejriwal said it is no secret that unemployment rate is the highest now than ever since 1947.

Demonetisation was a "mega scam", Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said and linked it to unemployment a day after a report of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) was revealed by the Business Standard newspaper.

The report says that the country's unemployment rate was at a 45-year-high of 6.1 per cent in 2017-18 whereas in 2011-12, it stood at 2.2 per cent. Joblessness was higher in urban areas (7.8 per cent) than in the rural areas (5.3 per cent).

The report was not released despite being vetted by the National Statistical Commission in December, allege two non-independent members who quit the data collating body on Tuesday.

The NSSO's annual household survey of 2017-18 is the first after the November 2016 demonetisation, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared an overnight ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief alleged that demonetisation "destroyed India's economy and everyone in this country knows unemployment rate is the highest now than ever since 1947".

Demonetisation was not a disaster, it was a mega scam. It destroyed India's economy & irrespective of whichever fraud Modi govt might indulge in to hide NSSO data, everyone in this country knows unemployment rate is the highest now than ever since 1947 - Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 1, 2019

His remarks followed President Ram Nath Kovind's justification that the centre's demonetisation move "struck at the very root" of the country's parallel black economy.

"Demonetisation was a defining moment in the government's war on corruption and black money. This decision struck at the very root of the parallel economy thriving on black money, and the money outside the formal system was brought within the ambit of the nation''s economy," he said.

However, Rs 15.31 lakh crore worth demonetised notes were deposited in banks in the following months. This was 99.3 per cent of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in circulation on November 8, 2016.

President Kovind added that the policies of the centre helped its fight against black money in the real estate sector and the prices of homes came down allowing the middle class to have homes of their own.