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NEW DELHI: INDIA'S Supreme Court has not only confirmed what everyone already knew, that surrogacy is a commercial industry in the country, but it also ruled that renting a womb is legal.

The judgment delivered by the apex court last week ends a drawn-out debate on the ethics concerning the practice.

The court gave the verdict in a case relating to a baby girl called Manji, born out of the sperm of a Japanese husband and an anonymous donor's egg implanted in the womb of an Indian surrogate mother in Anand town in Gujarat state.

Ever since her birth on July 25, the baby has been in a legal limbo because the Japanese couple - Mr Ikufumi Yamada, 45, and his wife Yuki Yamada, 41 - who had paid for the services of the surrogate mother, had divorced by then. While Mr Yamada wanted to keep the baby, his ex-wife did not want her any more.

The stamp of approval by the court on surrogacy comes at a time when the government has put online the long-awaited draft surrogacy laws...