Donor and surrogacy eligibility in India

India's fertility law sets specific rules about who can use donor eggs or sperm and surrogacy, and who can be a donor or a surrogate. The rules are strict, and they have changed recently: a 2024 amendment on donor gametes, and 2026 rules on clinic registration. This page is a plain-language walkthrough to help you work out where you might stand, and what to ask.

Who can use a donor egg or sperm?

Under the ART Act, an egg donor must be an ever-married woman aged 23 to 35, with at least one living child of her own who is 3 or older. She may donate only once in her life, no more than 7 eggs may be retrieved from her, and her eggs may go to only one commissioning party. The commissioning party must insure her.

Married infertile couples can commission ART using donor gametes. So can single women who are Indian citizens aged 21 or older, under the ART Act specifically. Surrogacy has a narrower single-woman rule, covered below: the ART Act and the Surrogacy Act are two different laws with different eligibility rules.

What are the rules for surrogacy?

Only altruistic surrogacy is allowed in India. Paying a surrogate anything beyond her medical costs and insurance is a criminal offence, carrying up to 10 years' imprisonment and a fine.

To use a surrogate, the intending couple must be:

• Legally married, with the wife aged 23 to 50 and the husband aged 26 to 55.
• Have a medical indication for surrogacy, certified by the authorities through a certificate of essentiality and a certificate of eligibility.
• Generally without a surviving biological child already, with limited exceptions.

The only single-parent route is a woman who is a widow or divorcee, aged 35 to 45.

The surrogate herself must be a married woman aged 25 to 35, with a child of her own, and she may act as a surrogate only once in her lifetime. She must be provided insurance covering the pregnancy and a period afterward.

Can donor eggs or sperm be used in surrogacy?

Originally, both gametes had to come from the intending couple. Since a 2024 amendment, one donor gamete (an egg or sperm, not both) is allowed if a District Medical Board certifies a qualifying medical condition. The child must still be genetically related to at least one intending parent, so using both a donor egg and donor sperm together is not allowed for surrogacy.

Who does the law not currently cover?

As written today, surrogacy, and much of this framework, is not open to single men, live-in (unmarried) couples, or LGBTQ+ individuals and couples. We state this plainly so no one is misled about where the law currently stands.

These exclusions are contested. They are the subject of ongoing petitions and debate before the courts, so the position may change. Check the official portal for the current rules.

Sources

• Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021. indiacode.nic.in / ICMR.
• Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2024 (donor gamete provisions). ICMR / gazette notifications.
• National ART & Surrogacy Portal, the authoritative source for current forms and rules.
• Ongoing Supreme Court proceedings on the exclusions described above.

Next: read your rights under the ART Act, or browse the registered-clinics directory.