Surrogacy (gestational surrogacy)

What the Act says surrogacy is

The law in India differs from the UK, so this page quotes the Act rather than any foreign regulator. It defines surrogacy as “a practice whereby one woman bears and gives birth to a child for an intending couple with the intention of handing over such child to the intending couple after the birth”

It defines altruistic surrogacy as “the surrogacy in which no charges, expenses, fees, remuneration or monetary incentive of whatever nature, except the medical expenses and such other prescribed expenses incurred on surrogate mother and the insurance coverage for the surrogate mother, are given to the surrogate mother or her dependents or her representative”

Section 3(ii) prohibits the alternative: “no surrogacy clinic, paediatrician, gynaecologist, embryologist, registered medical practitioner or any person shall conduct, offer, undertake, promote or associate with or avail of commercial surrogacy in any form”

Who may use it

Section 4 allows surrogacy “when an intending couple has a medical indication necessitating gestational surrogacy”. It requires “a certificate of a medical indication in favour of either or both members of the intending couple or intending woman necessitating gestational surrogacy from a District Medical Board.”

It sets ages: “the intending couple are married and between the age of 23 to 50 years in case of female and between 26 to 55 years in case of male on the day of certification”. An intending woman is defined as “an Indian woman who is a widow or divorcee between the age of 35 to 45 years and who intends to avail the surrogacy”

Who may be a surrogate

Section 4 says “no woman, other than an ever married woman having a child of her own and between the age of 25 to 35 years on the day of implantation, shall be a surrogate mother”, that “no woman shall act as a surrogate mother by providing her own gametes”, and that “no woman shall act as a surrogate mother more than once in her lifetime”

Registration, and what this directory does not know

Section 3(i): “no surrogacy clinic, unless registered under this Act, shall conduct or associate with, or help in any manner, in conducting activities relating to surrogacy and surrogacy procedures”. A clinic's ART level does not tell you whether it is registered as a surrogacy clinic, and this directory does not hold surrogacy registrations. Ask any clinic to show its registration.

This page lists clinics whose own websites use the word. It does not arrange, recommend or promote surrogacy. The Surrogacy Rules have been amended since the Act was passed; this page quotes the Act itself.

Questions

Is paid surrogacy legal in India?

No. Section 3(ii) of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act says no one shall “conduct, offer, undertake, promote or associate with or avail of commercial surrogacy in any form”.

Who can be a surrogate?

Section 4 says “an ever married woman having a child of her own and between the age of 25 to 35 years on the day of implantation”, and only once.

Is every IVF clinic allowed to do surrogacy?

No. Section 3(i) requires registration under the Surrogacy Act. This directory does not hold those registrations; ask the clinic.

Sources

• The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 (No. 47 of 2021), read 25 September 2026.
• Clinic data: each clinic's own website, as read by this directory; registry level from the National ART & Surrogacy Registry extract.