World IVF Day is observed every year on 25 July. It marks the birth of Louise Brown, the world’s first IVF baby, in 1978. What far fewer people know is that India made history just weeks later, when baby Durga became the world’s second IVF baby. This is the story of where IVF in India stands today.
World IVF Day is a global awareness day that celebrates in vitro fertilisation (IVF, the fertilisation of an egg and sperm outside the body in a laboratory) and the science of assisted reproduction. It is also known as World Embryologist Day, honouring the embryologists whose lab work makes IVF possible. The day raises awareness of infertility, challenges the stigma around it, and recognises the doctors, scientists and nurses behind every IVF birth.
On 25 July 1978, in Oldham, England, Louise Joy Brown became the first baby ever born through IVF. Her mother had lived with infertility for years before doctors Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards, working with the nurse and embryologist Jean Purdy, fertilised an egg outside the body and transferred the resulting embryo to her womb. The birth was a global sensation and opened a new era in medicine. Robert Edwards was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2010, though Jean Purdy’s central role went under recognised for decades, a pattern that would echo elsewhere.
Just 67 days after Louise Brown, on 3 October 1978, a baby girl was born in Kolkata, the world’s second and India’s first IVF baby. Her name was Kanupriya Agarwal, but she is remembered as Durga, nicknamed after the goddess because she arrived on the first day of Durga Puja. She was created by the physician Dr Subhash Mukhopadhyay, working with the cryobiologist Sunit Mukherji and the gynaecologist Saroj Kanti Bhattacharya, using techniques for ovarian stimulation and embryo freezing that were remarkably ahead of their time.
Instead of celebration, Dr Mukhopadhyay met with suspicion. The state authorities questioned his claims, and he was refused permission to present his work to the international scientific community. Isolated and denied the recognition he had earned, he died by suicide in 1981, a loss the fertility community still mourns. His story later inspired the film Ek Doctor Ki Maut. Years afterward, the reproductive scientist T.C. Anand Kumar reviewed Dr Mukhopadhyay’s handwritten records and confirmed that Durga was indeed India’s first IVF baby, publishing his findings in 1997. In 2002, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) formally recognised Dr Mukhopadhyay as the architect of India’s first test tube baby.
Because Dr Mukhopadhyay’s work was dismissed at the time, India’s first scientifically documented IVF baby is usually cited as Harsha, born in Mumbai in August 1986, through the work of Dr Indira Hinduja and Dr T.C. Anand Kumar. Sources differ on small details, such as the exact birth date and surname, so these are best treated as close approximations. The fuller truth is that India’s IVF story began in 1978 and was simply recognised late.
A quick timeline:
From that difficult beginning, IVF has become a routine and trusted part of fertility care in India. Worldwide, more than 13 million babies have been born through IVF and related assisted reproductive technologies since 1978, with over half a million more arriving every year. The need is real and widely shared: the World Health Organization estimated in 2023 that around 17.5% of adults, roughly 1 in 6 people worldwide, experience infertility in their lifetime. In India, IVF and other treatments are now regulated under the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021, which sets standards for clinics and protects patients.
IVF can help in many situations, including:
Cost is one of the most common questions on World IVF Day, and it varies with the city and centre, the number of cycles needed, medication, and whether add-ons such as ICSI or genetic testing are used. The indicative components below are placeholders pending confirmation against the current audited pricing sheet; speak to a specialist for a figure tailored to you.
For a clear, personalised estimate, ask about IVF treatment and cost at Cloudnine Fertility.
There is no single success rate for IVF, and any clinic quoting one very high number should be treated with caution. Success depends primarily on the age of the eggs used, embryo quality, the cause of infertility, and the health of the uterus. As a general guide, drawing on data from bodies such as the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, live birth rates per embryo transfer decline with the age of the egg source.
You do not need to be a patient to observe World IVF Day. You can learn how IVF actually works and separate fact from myth, share a supportive word with someone on a fertility journey, or simply help break the silence around infertility. And if you or someone you love has been trying to conceive without success, the day is a gentle reminder that infertility is a common, treatable medical condition, and that an early conversation with a specialist is worth having.
You can read how IVF works at Cloudnine Fertility or book a fertility consultation whenever you feel ready.
