For global IT giants, India is a favoured destination. Billion dollar investments have been announced by companies such as Google and many of these plans are in the drawing board stage. But Commerce Ministry officials tell CNBC-TV18 that all these companies have made it clear that investments in India hinge upon grant of SEZ status.

Commerce Ministry officials say that it is not only the domestic IT industry that's betting big on SEZs, global IT giants such as Google, Dell, Foxcon have informed the government that their investments in India would be through the SEZ route.

Google had committed a billion dollar investment in India. Officials say that 500,000 sq metres of land would be acquired by Google to set up a second global headquarters. Officials say that it is not just Google, but Dell too would be ploughing in USD 60 million in India through the SEZ route.

Sources say Dell has already acquired 100 hectares of land near Chennai. Taiwanse telecom equipment maker, Foxcon, Motorola and Samsung are the other companies jumping onto the SEZ bandwagon. Sources say that Foxcon is likely to invest close to a billion dollars in India.

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