new delhi • India is set to draft new laws to police surrogate pregnancies amid fears that the country’s booming “rent-a-womb” industry is running out of control.

Cheap medical care, a supply of equally cheap surrogate mothers and the absence of legal controls have made India the world leader in commercial surrogacy, attracting foreigners, many of them British.

Employing a surrogate and medical fees in the country costs as little as 500,000 rupees (£6,000), compared to about $70,000 (£35,000) in the United States. By contrast, in the UK, offering money to somebody to carry a child – or even advertising for one – is illegal.

As more Westerners opt to outsource pregnancies to the subcontinent, some Indian clinics are reporting a fourfold rise in the number of foreign clients on their books in the past year. As demand increases, newspaper adverts for surrogates are becoming more common. “British couple seeks surrogate to carry child. Great pay!! A $1,000.00 bonus!!! Please,” reads one.

Official estimates suggest that India’s “reproductive sector” - which includes regular IVF as well as surrogancy - will be worth as much as £6bn this year. As the industry flourishes, however, concerns are mounting for the welfare of the poor women who typically answer the ads – and for the children they bear. British couples, meanwhile, are falling victim to con-men and blackmailers as they embark on a process where even the most scrupulous of clinics can offer, at best, a fifty-fifty chance of success.

Bobby and Nikki Bains, 43 and 42, from London, have endured seven unsuccessful surrogacy attempts in a Bombay clinic since 2005, after embryos conceived through IVF treatments failed to develop in their surrogates’ wombs. Despite being “robbed, extorted and conned” in the process, they are now waiting to hear if their eighth attempt has been successful.

“We’ve seen the demand for surrogates rise around us,” Bains said. “The good ones don’t hang around any more.” Dr Alga Gupta gave a glimpse of the ordeals brokering a surrogacy deal involves. “You only make a payment once they are pregnant,” she advised. “And you make sure you don’t hand over the major money until they hand over the child.”