Up To 15 Percent of Women are Infertile; IVF is Becoming More Popular as a Specialized Industry

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 13 July 2022

As approximately 12–15% of all married young women in India, or 3 crore people, are unable to conceive, infertility is becoming a problem. For in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) professionals, a growing industry that is becoming more organised, this is creating a significant revenue potential. IVF is a sophisticated set of operations used to improve fertility, stop genetic issues, and aid in child conception.

Couples delaying pregnancy after marriage owing to job and life stress, lateness for treatments, female tubular blocks, pollution, poor diet and living conditions, and low male sperm counts are the main causes of infertility.

Another significant factor, according to Dr. Kshitiz Murdia, chief executive officer of Indira IVF, India's largest IVF chain with 110 centres, is the egg quality of women declining after 30-35 years of age.

The average number of children a woman would have over her lifetime, or the Total Fertility Rate (TFR), has decreased, according to the National Family Health Study (NFHS), from 2.7 in 2005–2006 to an all-time low of 2.1 in 2019–21.

Due to the high cost of a 2- to 6-month cycle, just 1% of couples pursue therapy. "We get about 80,000 enquiries every month, but only 9,000 walk in for treatment and of them only about 5,000 get investigated. The success rate is about 73%-74% and is improving year after year," says Dr. Murdia. 

He claims that 1,200–1,700 independent IVF clinics in India perform roughly 2-2.5 lakh treatment cycles. Because of India's high success rate and affordable treatment, couples also travel there from nations like Bangladesh and other SAARC nations. Similar to Indira IVF, Bengaluru-based Nova IVF is a chain with more than 50 locations, and there are numerous additional smaller regional franchises.