"Not for a moment, is it my claim that interest rates are too low. On the other hand, if you say that interest rates have become prohibitively high, that is not quite true," Ashok Lahiri, chief economic advisor told PTI.
As such, interest rates are not killing growth, he said but added that for spurring growth, the lower the interest rate, the better it is.
Lahiri said organised sector, particularly blue chip companies, do not have any problems in accessing the market and getting a good rate.
"The challenge really lies in how to extend credit to SMEs and agriculture-ample amount at reasonable rates. And there as you know in agriculture also this is happening," he said.
Though the interest rates on the benchmark ten-year government-securities have gone up by around 140 basis points in the last one year, one of the major successes of economic reforms has been the downward movement in interest rates, he said.
"In October 1996, the rate on the ten-year government paper was 13.7 per cent. It came down steadily to 5.1 per cent in October, 2003, and then it has been going up... to stand at over 8 per cent now..." Lahiri said.