Manipal: The country's economy should grow at eight per cent by 2020, BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) economic cell advisor Dr Jagadish Shettigar said.

Many of the present day economic problems connected to the WTO (World Trade Organisation) were due to "improper representation" of the country's case by earlier governments, he said, delivering a talk on "Present day economic scenario in the country", in Manipal on June 5.

It was important to place the arguments concerning India in the correct perspective at the WTO forums. The NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government, however, had been successful in putting forth the Indian position on pharmaceutical products and agricultural subsidy at the Doha round of trade talks, he said.

The Indian government had made it clear that distortions in these sectors should be corrected, he said.

Stating that "left-leaning trade unions were unnecessarily critical" of the Centre's economic policies, Shettigar said doubts were bound to arise as some of the allies of the government were critical of these policies.

PTI