India working on district-based development model: Prabhu

Union minister Suresh Prabhu on Saturday said the country is working on district-based developmental model to achieve aggregate growth.

For this, six districts has been selected in different parts of the country, Prabhu said while addressing a session here.

The Union minister for commerce, industry and civil aviation said if the national growth was at six per cent and those of the districts was four per cent, the aggregate growth would be 10 per cent.

"All put together, this will result in rise in India's GDP and to complement that, the private sector should bring in investments," Prabhu said.

The industry has to bring in investment as service-led growth would not be sustainable, he said adding that the government is ready with a new industrial policy.

"India needs to integrate with the global economy and there is no reason why India's exports volume should not touch USD 540 billion. This will only happen only by integrating with the global trade," Prabhu said.

The minister said the two premier institutes - the IIM Ahmedabad and the NCAER - have been approached to fix the baseline.

"The first phase of the project has been completed. The second phase will include industry, services and agriculture," he added.

He also called for the restoration of the trade balance with China.

India's huge trade deficit with China would have to be corrected and a Chinese minister has been invited to discuss the issue, Prabhu said.