BANGALORE: Priyanka, an HR manager in an IT company in Bangalore, is a happy mother of a three-month-old baby. She was artificially inseminated a year ago since she and her husband, a software engineer, were too busy to find time for sex.

Her husband had stored his semen at the Bangalore Assisted Conception Centre (BACC) before leaving on a business tour so that his wife could conceive during his absence when the time was right for it.

Sharmila, another techie, was unable to conceive for many years after marriage. This is because she and her husband, another IT professional, had neither the time nor the inclination for sex. She finally had a baby recently after being artificially inseminated, when the husband was away, using his banked semen.

At least two out of every 10 'double-income-no-sex' or DINS couples working in the IT industry are resorting to this Assisted Reproductive Technique (ART) because they have no time for sex or because the wife or the husband is away on official assignment, says Dr Kamini Rao, medical director of BACC. The number is steadily rising, she adds.

The recourse to semen banks by the always-on-the-move IT professionals is now emerging as a trend. But their sexual woes have been known for some time. Long hours before the computer and stressful work schedules are resulting in impotency among men and infertility among women.

The number of patients visiting the Institute of Sexual Medicine in Bangalore has gone up by 10 times in three years. "About 30 patients visited my clinic in a week three years ago but now the number is 300," says its director, Dr Padmini Prasad.

"Sex on demand for the purpose of procreation and not pleasure creates tension in the male spouse resulting in erectile dysfunction," explains Dr Prasad, adding: "Storing semen comes as a relief."

A study conducted by BACC in 2004 on the sexual proclivities of 1,920 techie couples in Bangalore found that one out of four couples reported sexual dysfunction. "The couples didn't have any medical problem. The culprit was hectic life that resulted in reduced libido," says Dr Rao. "The situation is no better today."

"Most IT professionals carry office problems to bedrooms along with laptops," says India's leading sexologist Dr Prakash Kothari in Mumbai.

"The stressed IT professional indulges in alcohol or smoking to de-stress, which affects the libido. Erectile dysfunction is more common than common cold in India."