[Ethereum] Ethereum gas limit issue while sending transaction from web3 client (private network)

I have setup a private Ethereum system using geth. And am running a client that uses a web3.js file to connect to the Ethereum system. While trying to send a transaction or call some contract function, I get an error –

(node:500) UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: Error: Returned error: exceeds block gas limit

I have started the Ethereum nodes with a higher gas limit using targetgaslimit and also from the genesis file.

Here's how I started ethereum:

geth --datadir /root/.ethereum/geth/datastore/datadir --networkid 15 --rpc --rpcapi web3,eth,personal,miner,net,txpool --rpcaddr <ip> --targetgaslimit=9000000000000 --gasprice '1' console

Snippet from genesis.json:

difficulty" : "0xB",
  "extraData"  : "",
  "gasLimit"   : "0x2fefd8",

As you can see, the gas limit is set to a higher value. Now, I have a smart contract deployed on the Ethereum network –

pragma solidity ^0.4.13;

contract Simple {
  uint public _num = 2;

  //contructor
  function Simple(uint _inNum) public {
        _num = _inNum;
  }

  function setNum(uint _num2set) public {
        _num = _num2set;
  }

  function getNum() public constant returns (uint) {
        return _num;
  }

  function getArea(uint _side) returns (uint) {
        return (_side * _side);
  }

  function arithmetics(uint _a, uint _b) returns (uint o_sum, uint o_product) {
    o_sum = _a + _b;
    o_product = _a * _b;
  }

  function multiply(uint _a, uint _b) returns (uint) {
    return _a * _b;
  }
}

Now, I am trying to run a web3 client to connect to the Ethereum node.

I have written some sample application JS code that connects to an Ethereum node –

var Web3 = require('web3');
var web3 = new Web3(new Web3.providers.HttpProvider("http://172.17.0.8:8545"));

Now, I am trying to send a transaction or call one of the functions in the Ethereum smart contract by running the following command on the Node console-

simpleContract.methods.getNum().send({from: '0x41088ec8B25cc67c2558261B62FeD73f8B26ccc2', gasPrice: '0x1', gasLimit: '0x77359400'}).then(console.log)

But I always get exceeded gas limit error. From what I see, this transaction shouldn't exceed the gas limit at all. The gas limit while starting geth,as well as in the command are reasonable. when I check gas limit also, I get a reasonable number –

web3.eth.getBlock("latest").then(console.log)
Promise {
  <pending>,
  domain:
   Domain {
     domain: null,
     _events: { error: [Function: debugDomainError] },
     _eventsCount: 1,
     _maxListeners: undefined,
     members: [] } }
> { difficulty: '635410',
  extraData: '0xd88301080f846765746888676f312e31302e31856c696e7578',
  gasLimit: 8000000,
  gasUsed: 0,

Here's the complete error I see:

> simpleContract.methods.getNum().send({from: '0x41088ec8B25cc67c2558261B62FeD73f8B26ccc2', gasPrice: '0x1', gasLimit: '0x77359400'}).then(console.log)
Promise {
  <pending>,
  domain:
   Domain {
     domain: null,
     _events: { error: [Function: debugDomainError] },
     _eventsCount: 1,
     _maxListeners: undefined,
     members: [] } }
> (node:500) UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: Error: Returned error: exceeds block gas limit
    at Object.ErrorResponse (/node_modules/web3-core-helpers/src/errors.js:29:16)
    at /node_modules/web3-core-requestmanager/src/index.js:140:36
    at XMLHttpRequest.request.onreadystatechange (/node_modules/web3-providers-http/src/index.js:91:13)
    at XMLHttpRequestEventTarget.dispatchEvent (/node_modules/xhr2-cookies/dist/xml-http-request-event-target.js:34:22)
    at XMLHttpRequest._setReadyState (/node_modules/xhr2-cookies/dist/xml-http-request.js:208:14)
    at XMLHttpRequest._onHttpResponseEnd (/node_modules/xhr2-cookies/dist/xml-http-request.js:318:14)
    at IncomingMessage.<anonymous> (/node_modules/xhr2-cookies/dist/xml-http-request.js:289:61)
    at emitNone (events.js:111:20)
    at IncomingMessage.emit (events.js:208:7)
    at endReadableNT (_stream_readable.js:1064:12)
    at _combinedTickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:138:11)
    at process._tickDomainCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:218:9)
(node:500) UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: Unhandled promise rejection. This error originated either by throwing inside of an async function without a catch block, or by rejecting a promise which was not handled with .catch(). (rejection id: 62)

Any pointers on what the issue could be. I even tried explicitly setting gas and gas price: gas: '0x800000', gasPrice: '0x1', gasLimit: '0x77359400', but that did not work either. In fact, if I set gas to a lower value, I get an error:

(node:500) UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: Error: Returned error: insufficient funds for gas * price + value

Please suggest.

Thanks!