Union minister Suresh Prabhu has said that the country is working on a district-based developmental model to achieve aggregate growth. He was addressing a session in Kolkata on Saturday.

Union minister for commerce, industry and civil aviation said that six districts have been selected in different parts of the country for this model. He 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. He also called for the restoration of the trade balance with China.

“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 $ 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.