While in most cultures children are a blessing, in India, their absence has been traditionally viewed as a curse. With the pressure to procreate so high, desperate couples have long sought help; today, that help often takes the form of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Using these procedures, women well past child-bearing age -- even post-menopausal women in their sixties and even seventies -- are queuing up for a last shot at parenthood, with results that can seem almost Biblical.

While this may seem dangerous to some, the clinics aren't likely to go away. As Anuj Chopra reports in FP, the business is not just a family affair: It is an industry on track to be worth $2.3 billion in 2012, and the Indian Law Commission described it as a "pot of gold."

Above, once such family, the Biranjes, at their home in Kolhapur. Mahadev Biranje, a 68-year-old sugarcane farmer, sits with his two wives. His first wife, Akatai Biranje, shown on the right, was unable to conceive a child after many years of marriage. Next to Akatai stands her younger sister, Kisabai Biranje, who Mahadev later married in an attempt to have a child. Both wives live with Mahadev in the same house (the legal status of their marriage is unclear). Kisabai gave birth to daughter Madhura after undergoing IVF treatment at Dr. Satish Patki's clinic.

Subash Sharma 

Above, Dr. Satish Patki, who made pregnancy possible for Kisabai Biranje, inside his fertilization lab in Kolhapur, a dusty agrarian town in western India. He has delivered more than 1,000 IVF babies in the last two decades.

Subash Sharma

On a regular day, Dr. Patki's clinic is packed with patients, many of whom travel long distances for fertility treatment. 

Subash Sharma 

Above, highly mobile sperms swim in a Petri dish. The IVF procedure is carried out under a microscope and magnified on a large television screen so that patients can see the live footage.

Subash Sharma 

Dr. Patki at his fertilization lab in Kolhapur. Due to a highly skewed male-to-female ratio in India, disclosing the sex of a fetus is illegal.

Subash Sharma 

A father who was once a patient of Dr. Patki shows a framed photograph of his daughter, born at the clinic after he and his wife underwent fertility treatment here. The family now lives in Russia.

Subash Sharma

Minutes after delivery, a newborn baby lies in a makeshift incubator at a rural maternity clinic in the tribal areas of Maharashtra. While great strides are being taken with IVF technology, even basic health infrastructure is severely lacking in the rural heart of India.

Subash Sharma