Published: 22 September 2026
Medically reviewed by Dr. Pranay Shah, MS (ObGy), Director & Chief Fertility Consultant, Wellspring IVF & Women’s Hospital, Ahmedabad
Last medically reviewed: 22 September 2026
Every surrogacy clinic in India must hold a certificate of registration granted by the appropriate authority of its State under section 11 of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, and section 12(4) requires that certificate to be displayed at a conspicuous place in the clinic. You can verify it in two independent ways: ask to see the displayed certificate, and separately match the clinic’s name and registration number against the public Surrogacy Clinic Registered list on the National ART & Surrogacy Registry. A registration is valid for three years, so the expiry date matters as much as the number.
Almost every couple who asks us about surrogacy has already looked at three or four clinic websites, and almost none of them has checked a single registration. That is understandable — the claim “government registered” appears on so many pages that it reads as boilerplate rather than as a verifiable fact. It is verifiable. Since the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 came into force, the Government of India has published the register openly, including the list of applications that were rejected. This article sets out exactly what to check, where, and what a satisfactory answer looks like — and, just as importantly, what the register cannot tell you.
What does “registered” actually mean in Indian surrogacy?
It means two different things, and this is the single most common point of confusion. A clinic that offers gestational surrogacy in India needs two separate registrations under two separate statutes, granted through two separate processes.
The reason is biological. In lawful Indian surrogacy the embryo is created outside the body and transferred to the surrogate — that laboratory work is assisted reproductive technology, governed by the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021. The surrogacy arrangement itself — eligibility, consent, the surrogate’s protection, record-keeping — is governed by the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021. One registration does not imply the other.
| Surrogacy clinic registration | ART clinic registration | |
| Governing statute | Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 (No. 47 of 2021), sections 11–13 | Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021 (No. 42 of 2021), read with the ART (Regulation) Rules, 2022 |
| Who grants it | The appropriate authority appointed by the State or Union Territory (section 35) | The appropriate authority appointed by the State or Union Territory |
| What it authorises | Conducting surrogacy and surrogacy procedures at that registered place | Performing ART procedures at the level for which the clinic is registered (Level 1 or Level 2) |
| Validity | Three years, renewable (section 12(3)) | As stated on the certificate issued in Form 3; renewal framework revised in June 2026 |
| Public list | Surrogacy Clinic Registered | ART Clinic Registered and ART Bank Registered (separate lists) |
| Must be displayed? | Yes — at a conspicuous place (section 12(4)) | Yes — at a conspicuous place at its place of business (rule 8) |
A clinic performing gestational surrogacy needs both. Holding one is not evidence of the other.
Section 3(i) of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act is unambiguous: no surrogacy clinic, unless registered under the Act, shall conduct or associate with, or help in any manner in conducting, activities relating to surrogacy and surrogacy procedures. Section 3(iv) closes the obvious loophole — no registered medical practitioner, gynaecologist, paediatrician or embryologist may conduct surrogacy procedures “at a place other than a place registered under this Act”. A doctor’s personal qualifications, however impressive, do not make an unregistered address lawful.
How do I check if a surrogacy clinic is registered in India?
Work through these five steps in order. The whole process takes about ten minutes and needs nothing but a browser.
- Get the clinic’s exact legal name and its State. Ask for the name as it appears on the registration certificate, not the brand name on the signboard. Many groups operate several units under one marketing name but register each address separately.
- Open the Surrogacy Clinic Registered list on the National ART & Surrogacy Registry. This is the official register maintained under section 15 of the Act. It lists, for each facility: ID, Name of the Clinics/Banks, Address, State, Email ID, Registration No., and a Download Certificate column.
- Match four things, not one: the legal name, the full address, the State, and the registration number. Then open the certificate PDF from the Download Certificate column and confirm the same details appear on the certificate itself, together with its date.
- Check the ART registration separately on the ART Clinic Registered list. If the clinic also runs a gamete or embryo bank, it will appear on the ART Bank Registered list as well. Confirm the ART clinic is registered at Level 2 (explained below).
- Check the rejected lists. The registry also publishes rejected surrogacy clinic applications and rejected ART clinic applications. A facility appearing there has applied and been refused — a materially different position from one that has simply never applied.
Step 5 is the one almost nobody performs, and it is the most informative. A rejection is a documented regulatory finding, not an absence of information.
| What to check | Where | Satisfactory result | Red flag |
| Surrogacy clinic registration | Surrogacy Clinic Registered list | Exact name, address and State match; certificate PDF opens | Only a similar name, or a different address in the same city |
| Registration number | Registry entry vs the certificate PDF vs the certificate on the wall | All three carry the same number | The number on the wall is not on the register |
| Expiry | Date on the certificate PDF | Current, with more than 60 days to run | Expired, or expiring within 60 days with no renewal applied for |
| ART registration and level | ART Clinic Registered list | Listed, and registered at Level 2 | Level 1 only, or absent, while IVF is being offered |
| Rejection history | Rejected lists | Not present | Present — ask for the reason in writing |
| Displayed certificate | The clinic reception | Shown on request and photographable | Refusal, or “it is with the accountant” |
A ten-minute verification protocol. Registry URLs verified live on 3 September 2026.
What registration number should a surrogacy clinic display?
There is no single national number format. Registration is granted by each State’s appropriate authority, and the numbering conventions on the public register differ visibly between States — some encode the State and year, others are short serial numbers. Do not try to judge a registration by the shape of its number.
What matters is correspondence. The number the clinic displays must be the same number that appears against that clinic’s name and address on the national register, and the same number that appears on the downloadable certificate. Three matching sources is verification. One framed certificate is not.
For reference, our own two numbers are ART registration GS/AHD/024 and surrogacy registration GJ-01/AHD/27/2026; both are published on our website under our ART and surrogacy registrations, and both can be run through exactly the procedure described in this article. We would encourage you to do that — with us and with every other clinic you are considering.
What does an ART Clinic Level 2 registration mean?
Rule 3 of the ART (Regulation) Rules, 2022 divides ART clinics into two levels by the procedures they are permitted to perform.
| Level | What the clinic may do | Relevance to surrogacy |
| Level 1 | Intrauterine insemination (IUI) only, as part of treatment | Cannot lawfully create or transfer an embryo, and therefore cannot perform the laboratory work a gestational surrogacy cycle requires |
| Level 2 | Surgical or needle retrieval of gametes, handling oocytes outside the body, using sperm to achieve fertilisation, embryo transfer, and storage of gametes or embryos | This is the level required for the IVF treatment component of any gestational surrogacy cycle |
Source: ART (Regulation) Rules, 2022, rule 3.
The practical consequence: a clinic that holds surrogacy clinic registration but only Level 1 ART registration cannot lawfully complete a surrogacy cycle on its own premises. If you are told the embryology “happens at a partner lab”, ask for that laboratory’s own name and registration number and verify it as a separate facility. Under section 3(iv) the place where the procedure is actually performed must itself be registered.
Three mistakes patients make when they think they have checked
1. Reading the number and ignoring the date
Section 12(3) makes a surrogacy clinic’s certificate valid for three years. The Surrogacy (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2026 — G.S.R. 492(E), notified 17 June 2026 — inserted rule 11A, which requires a renewal application to be made at least sixty days before the certificate expires, accompanied by a non-refundable renewal fee of one lakh rupees for surrogacy clinics; a late application attracts the initial registration fee instead. A renewed certificate runs for a further three years from the expiry of the previous one. A number without a current date is not a registration.
2. Matching the brand, not the legal entity
Registration attaches to a place and a legal entity, not to a marketing name. If a group advertises four “centres”, four separate entries should exist. Where you find one, ask which address it covers and where your procedure will physically take place.
3. Assuming one registration implies the other
ART registration is not surrogacy registration. We have had couples arrive with a photograph of a perfectly genuine ART certificate, entirely satisfied, having never established that the clinic held surrogacy registration at all.
What the public register can and cannot tell you
Being clear about the limits of this check is part of using it properly.
It can tell you: whether a named facility at a named address holds current registration; the registration number; the State authority that granted it; whether an application from that facility was refused; and it gives you the certificate itself as a downloadable PDF.
It cannot tell you: anything about clinical quality, laboratory standards or outcomes; which doctors are currently on staff; whether a complaint is pending; or whether registration has been suspended or cancelled since the list was last updated. Section 13 permits the appropriate authority to suspend or cancel a registration after giving the clinic an opportunity to be heard, and section 14 provides an appeal. A public list is a snapshot, not a live feed.
Registration is therefore a floor, not a recommendation. It tells you the clinic is lawfully permitted to do this work. It says nothing about whether it does it well. Those are separate enquiries, and both are worth making.
Red flags that should end the conversation
Some of what follows is not merely poor practice but criminal. Offences under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act are cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable under section 43.
| What you encounter | Why it matters | Provision |
| The clinic offers to find or arrange a surrogate for you | Seeking a woman to act as a surrogate mother, or stating or implying that a woman is willing to do so, is prohibited. The intending couple must approach the appropriate authority with a willing surrogate; a clinic cannot lawfully supply one. | s.3(v)(c) and (d) |
| Any payment to the surrogate is discussed as a price, package or compensation | Only altruistic surrogacy is lawful. Commercial surrogacy is prohibited outright. | s.3(ii), s.38 |
| Your procedure will happen at an address that is not the registered one | Performing surrogacy procedures at an unregistered place is an offence in itself. | s.3(iv) |
| The certificate cannot be produced | It is required to be on display at a conspicuous place. | s.12(4) |
| Any discussion of choosing the sex of the child | Sex selection for surrogacy is absolutely prohibited. Leave. | s.3(viii) |
| Advertising that promotes surrogacy commercially or invites women to become surrogates | Prohibited in print, electronic or any other media. | s.3(v)(a), (b), (e) |
The penalties are not nominal. Contravention of the Act by a clinic or practitioner, other than the commercial surrogacy provisions in section 38, carries imprisonment of up to five years and a fine of up to ten lakh rupees under section 39. Section 40 provides for imprisonment of up to five years and a fine of up to five lakh rupees for a first offence of not following altruistic surrogacy or conducting surrogacy for commercial purposes, rising to ten years and ten lakh rupees for a subsequent offence. Section 41 supplies a residual penalty of up to three years and five lakh rupees, with a continuing fine of ten thousand rupees a day.
What to do if a clinic is not on the register
Do not jump to a conclusion — work through the ordinary explanations first, in this order:
- You may be searching the marketing name rather than the registered legal name. Ask for both.
- The facility may be listed under a different State if its registered address differs from the consulting address you visited.
- A very recent grant may not yet be reflected on the published list. In that case the clinic should be able to produce the certificate and its date, and you can ask the State appropriate authority to confirm.
- The clinic may hold ART registration only, and may not in fact be offering surrogacy — which is a legitimate position, provided nobody has implied otherwise.
If none of these explains it, the appropriate authority for that State is the body to approach; under sections 35 and 36 it grants, suspends and cancels registrations and investigates complaints. Contact details for State authorities are published on the National ART & Surrogacy Registry portal.
Check the date on any surrogacy advice you read
This area of law is moving. The two most recent amendments to the subordinate legislation — the Surrogacy (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2026 and the ART (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 492(E) and G.S.R. 491(E) respectively — were both notified on 17 June 2026 and introduced the renewal regime described above. The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has also published a notice dated 11 March 2026 on a comprehensive review of the ART and Surrogacy Acts; we make no claim here about what that review will conclude, only that it exists.
Practically, this means that guidance written before mid-2026 will not describe the renewal requirement at all. When you read anything about Indian surrogacy law — including this article — look for the review date first.
Verifying us
We would rather be checked than believed. Wellspring IVF & Women’s Hospital is an ART-registered clinic in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, led by Dr. Pranay Shah, MS (ObGy). Our ART registration is GS/AHD/024 and our surrogacy registration is GJ-01/AHD/27/2026. Both numbers, and what our registered surrogacy programme does and does not undertake, are set out on the site.
If a step in the verification procedure above returns something you cannot interpret — for any clinic, not only this one — you are welcome to speak to our team and we will talk you through what you are looking at.
Frequently asked questions
Is a surrogacy clinic’s registration the same as its ART registration?
No. They are granted under different Acts, appear on different public lists, and authorise different activities. A clinic offering gestational surrogacy needs both.
How long is a surrogacy clinic registration valid?
Three years from grant, under section 12(3), renewable. Since June 2026 the renewal application must be made at least sixty days before expiry.
Can I actually see the certificate online, or only the number?
The register carries a Download Certificate column against each entry, so the certificate itself can be opened as a PDF. Compare it with the copy displayed at the clinic.
What does it mean if a clinic appears on the rejected list?
It applied for registration and the application was refused. That is a documented regulatory outcome and you are entitled to ask the clinic to explain it in writing before proceeding.
Does registration mean the clinic can arrange a surrogate for me?
No, and any clinic that says otherwise is describing something the law does not permit. Registration authorises the clinic to perform surrogacy procedures. Identifying a willing surrogate and obtaining the required approvals is a matter for the intending couple and the appropriate authority.
The clinic says its embryology is done at a partner laboratory. Is that acceptable?
Only if that laboratory is itself registered for the work being done there. Section 3(iv) attaches liability to the place where the procedure is performed, so verify the partner facility as a separate entry on the ART registry.
The short version
Two registrations, three matching sources for the number, one date that has not expired, and one look at the rejected lists. That is the whole check, and it protects you from the single largest avoidable risk in Indian surrogacy — beginning treatment at a place that is not permitted to provide it.
If you are at the stage of assessing whether surrogacy is even the clinically appropriate route for you, that is a separate and earlier question, and one worth answering before you compare clinics at all. You can discuss your individual situation with a fertility specialist at Wellspring IVF & Women’s Hospital on +91 9099946050, Monday to Saturday, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
References
- Government of India. The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 (No. 47 of 2021). India Code, Ministry of Law and Justice.
- Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. National ART & Surrogacy Registry — Surrogacy Clinic Registered. registry.artsurrogacy.gov.in (accessed 3 September 2026)
- Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. National ART & Surrogacy Registry — ART Clinic Registered. registry.artsurrogacy.gov.in (accessed 3 September 2026)
- Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. National ART & Surrogacy Registry — Rejected surrogacy clinic applications. registry.artsurrogacy.gov.in (accessed 3 September 2026)
- Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Rules, 2022, notified 9 June 2022. artsurrogacy.gov.in
- Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. Surrogacy (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 492(E), 17 June 2026. (https://artsurrogacy.gov.in/public/fornt/assets/images/Notifications/rules/Surrogacy%20(Regulation)%20Amendment%20Rules,%202026.pdf)
- Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. ART (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 491(E), 17 June 2026. (https://artsurrogacy.gov.in/public/fornt/assets/images/Notifications/rules/ART(Regulation)%20Amendment%20Rules%202026.pdf)
- Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. Notice dated 11 March 2026 — Comprehensive review of the ART (Regulation) Act, 2021 and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021. artsurrogacy.gov.in
