Cashing in on a high birth rate and the enormous potential of stem cell research, India’s biotechnology firms are coaxing more parents to bank blood from their newborn’s umbilical cord. Bondita Bhattacharya, 39, who is married to a software engineer, is among more than 4,000 Indian parents who have had the blood cells from their children frozen, to be revived if and when there is a scientific breakthrough.Bhattacharya, whose baby was born last month, said she had paid 60,000 rupees (1,333 dollars) for the process as she had “nothing to lose”.
