Set up in 2008, Dr Yashodhara Mhatre (left) and Dr Sudhir Ajja’s website surrogacyindia.com has attracted hundreds of interested participants in its forum page. Many of the couples intending to seek their services get to know each other through the forum and meet up before they head to India.

In the fast-paced financial capital of Mumbai, one surrogacy clinic has turned itself into a one-stop shop for customers to enjoy a no-frills holiday and get a baby out of it.

To many foreign couples who have decided on India to solve their baby woes, the rough and tumble experience while going through the surrogacy process could prove to be a highly stressful one.

In order to ease the culture shock and emotional distress, a Mumbai-based organisation is offering travel packages to its clients, its founders said, that covers airfare, lodging and most importantly, a baby.

Surrogacy India is the first-of-its-kind fertility service provider in the country, claims its founder Dr Sudhir Ajja, providing “group tours” that handle the needs of every couple that wants to rent a womb.

“From the time they get down at the airport to the time they go back, we give them a fixed price and it covers anything that you can imagine,” Dr Ajja said.

Each package costs around US$20,000 (S$30,944) and includes items like plane tickets, accomodation, transportation, a surrogate mother and three cycles of In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and the money is paid in instalments. The surrogate mother gets about US$4,500.

More importantly, co-founder Dr Yashodhara Mhatre believes the all-encompassing package sets her clients’ mind at ease by lessening the stress of the surrogacy treatment, from the moment they arrive at the world’s second-most populous nation.

“They (clients) are…very apprehensive about India because it already has a ‘Third World’ tag attached to it.” Dr Mhatre said. “We wanted to make the journey much more comfortable for the patient…by telling them where to stay, where to eat, what to eat, and so on.”

The organisation was started three years ago in India’s financial capital and business has picked up in the last year. By the end of 2008, Surrogacy India has delivered 10 babies to its clients, Dr Ajja said, with a success rate of 35 percent.

Through its website — surrogacyindia.com — Dr Mhatre and Dr Ajja link up and exchange information with foreign couples. They even set up video conferences between clients and potential surrogate candidates before jetting the intended parents down.

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