India has banned commercial surrogacy after its parliament passed a bill ending the country’s reputation as a ‘rent a womb’ haven for childless couples.

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016 bans all foreign applicants, bringing to an end a period during which India became the world’s “fertility tourism” hotspot, with an estimated $400m (£317m) per year being spent by couples from abroad.

The new law’s supporters say it will also protect vulnerable women from being exploited by unscrupulous agents for wealthy Indian clients seeking to jump adoption queues. Now, surrogate mothers must be a “close relative” and recipients must be infertile couples who have been married at least five years.

As the bill was being discussed in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, the health minister, J P Nadda, said: "Even NGOs and civil society were of the opinion that commercial surrogacy must be stopped.

“Exploitation of surrogate mothers was also an issue. The government decided to come out with the bill keeping the Indian ethos in mind, so that exploitation of surrogate mothers could be stopped."

The law seeks to end such exploitation and only allow “altruistic surrogacy”, as now surrogates will be stopped from accepting money, other than payment of medical bills.