“Known to result in 30 per cent clinical pregnancies at a drastically reduced cost, the process can act as an intermediate step before we graduate from Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) to IVF, which results in 40-50 per cent clinical pregnancies,” Pai said.

Previous worldwide studies have stated that efficacy of this procedure is comparable to the conventional IVF.

The process can be a boon for smaller Indian towns, which face acute power shortage making implementation of the standard IVF technique heavily dependent on running generators and hence more expensive, Pai said.

“An IVF procedure costs an estimated Rs 1.3 lakh, the cost of which can be reduced substantially with the INVOcell technique. However, it will be premature to say exactly how much it can be curtailed since the procedure has not yet been established and evaluated here,” he said.

“By eliminating the need for extensive laboratories, reducing the running costs of using incubators and other equipment and also doing away with the requirement of heavy hormonal injections, the new process can cut costs enormously,” Pai added.

Besides, more people even in smaller towns can get better access to the procedure because of its relatively simple and cost-effective procedure.

The method can also undo the problem of multiple pregnancies associated with standard IVF, which involves heavy hormonal injections to be administered to patients, the doctor said.