Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday exhorted Indian companies to emulate the Chinese model and globalise their operations, and promised that his government would ensure that all barriers to their growth are removed.

"Our goal should be to do as well as China whether in terms of growth of gross domestic product, growth of manufacturing, growth of trade and growth of infrastructure," the prime minister told a summit on "Indian CEOs - Competencies for Success."

"We must move away from the paradigm of incremental growth to a paradigm of exponential growth and grow into un-chartered territory," he told the summit, organised jointly by the government and apex industry chambers.

The prime minister also laid emphasis on the performance of public sector undertakings, saying they would be extended more autonomy so that the country sees far more success stories among state-run enterprises in the future.

"We must strengthen their hands so that they can provide effective leadership and manage public resources more efficiently," he said.

He said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government had an obligation towards public sector undertakings in terms of extending greater autonomy to their managements, especially the nine gems, or "navratnas," among state-run units.

"We have already given our commitment to help in the globalisation of our 'navratnas,' especially of firms in strategic sectors like energy. Both the navratnas and other PSEs require competent managerial leadership."

He said the private sector was able to perform better since it didn't have to contend with ministers and ministries like public sector undertakings have to.

Manmohan Singh also released a monograph of a study with the same title as the theme of the summit, co-hosted by the Public Enterprises Selection Board, Bharat Petroleum and the Standing Committee on Public Enterprises.

The daylong summit was addressed by Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Heavy Industries Minister Santosh Mohan Dev among others.

Manmohan Singh also spoke of what he thought would be ideal for corporate and political leadership and said the success of any economic system depends on the mindset of the people who make the crucial decisions.

"We need a mindset which celebrates change and recognises that the only constant thing in this world is change," he said, adding he would soon set up a National Knowledge Commission to help in improving the quality of Indian manpower.

The prime minister said while he was a believer in the importance of individual leadership, he often found binding constraints imposed on even most competent leaders.

He said it was not easy to judge whether the resultant outcome of the constraints was a function of the capability of a leader or inadequacies of the environment in which he or she must function.

Manmohan Singh did not favour excessive emphasis on individuals, like in the West, especially the US, resulting in excessive compensation packages for chief executive officers.

"This has had a negative impact on the work culture of many large corporations," he said. "In the final analyses, any chain is as strong as its weakest link."