New Delhi: Economists in the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council say there has been a remarkable turnaround in investments by the private corporate sector in the last few years, giving indications that the 8 per cent plus growth of the country's economy is sustainable.

Macro-economic data analysis by these economists shows that the capital formation in the private sector as a share in gross domestic capital formation has moved from 18 per cent in 2000-01 to a growth of 25-30 per cent in 2003-04.

Significantly, capital formation in the public sector has kept growing, rising from a negative four per cent in 2000-01 to a positive 11.8 per cent in 2003-04, giving further hope for a sustained growth in the economy.

Supporting data has revealed that the investments in real terms have been growing at 15-16 per cent between 2002 and 2005 - years for which actual data is available - and estimates show similar rates of growth in 2005-06 and 2006-07.

In economic terms, this means the contribution of investment (gross domestic capital formation) to GDP growth has been rising since 2000-01 going up from a negative 1.17 per cent to a positive 4.20 per cent in 2004-05.