Earlier, women had to make guesses whether they pregnant or not after incase they missed their period. However, now with the evolution of science and medicine, pregnancy test kits let you know if you are pregnant or not- in just under a few minutes. It is the easiest way to determine pregnancy early on, and probably the most convenient and private one as well.
Pregnancy test kits in India are easily available in pharmacy and departmental stores. They are indeed handy and pocket friendly. Anyone can use them as they are so simple-to-use. They will protect your privacy as well if you don’t want to publicize your pregnancy.
Visiting the doctor every time you doubt a pregnancy can be inconvenient. Most of the women prefer to determine their pregnancy privately in their home and then only if the result turns positive, they like to visit the doctor for further guidance.
Early detection of pregnancy is highly beneficial as it helps to make necessary lifestyle changes to extend your extra support to the new life growing inside. Therefore, in its real sense, pregnancy test kits can be counted as one of the most beautiful gifts of science to a woman.
What Is A Pregnancy Test Kit?
Pregnancy test kits are over the counter kits that help to determine if you are pregnant or not. The kits detect human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) in your urine. hCG is a hormone produced in developing placenta of the fetus.
Once you get pregnant, hCG will be present in blood and urine. The level of hCG increases very fast during the early days and weeks of pregnancy. It plays a key role in sustaining a pregnancy until the placenta is fully developed to sustain the pregnancy.
Pregnancy test kits use a chemical which reacts to hCG. Most probably it will be an antibody of hCG. Anyway, this chemical will react to the hCG present in the urine. The result of this reaction creates another substance that brings about an additional line or additional colour (depending on the kits), thereby, confirming a pregnancy.
Related Reading: When To Take Home Pregnancy Test
Most of the pregnancy test kits have the area marked C, and T. C stands for control line. This line shows the test is well conducted. T stands for test line. This line appears if the test is positive. If the C line is absent, the test is considered invalid.
A home pregnancy test is a qualitative test. Read the instructions in the kit carefully before going ahead with the test. The usage instructions may vary from kit to kit. Also, make sure it hasn’t crossed the expiration date.
The sensitivity also varies and therefore while some kits can read an incredibly low level of hCG (enabling to tell if you are pregnant as soon as you missed your period), others can only read the hCG once it reaches a certain level.
An indicator that determines the pregnancy also varies among pregnancy test kits. For example, some kits come with one window and will show two bold lines if positive and one bold line if negative. Whereas, some pregnancy test kits come with two windows. And a plus sign in the second window determines the pregnancy.
Note: First-time users should consider buying pregnancy test kits which are easy to use and to interpret the results.
Even though individual pregnancy test kit is expensive, bulk buy comes with considerable discounts and offers. Therefore, multi-pack offers will be highly beneficial for women with irregular periods and those who are actively trying to get pregnant.
How Accurate Are Home Pregnancy Test Kits?
Most of the top pregnancy test kits in India claim to have 99% of accuracy. Still, pregnancy test kit results depend on various factors like when the test is performed, what time of the day you choose to take the test etc.
The test result may also get affected if you are taking fertility drugs or if you drink too much water that dilutes the urine while taking the test. The accuracy also gets affected if you use a pregnancy test kit that past is its expiration date.
Therefore you may get a false negative or a false positive result for various reasons. So if you get negative test results and if you strongly suspect you are pregnant, go ahead with another home pregnancy kit test after a week.
For maximizing the accuracy of pregnancy test kits-
- Take the first urine in the morning to test
- Make sure you are not well hydrated before collecting urine. Diluted urine may not give an accurate result.
Types Of Pregnancy Tests Kits In India
Pregnancy test kits in India come in two types – Strip type pregnancy test kits, which seem to be more popular, and cup type pregnancy test kits.
Strip type pregnancy test kits are more popular as they are a quick and easy way to detect a pregnancy early on. There is no need of an extra apparatus, and all you have to do is pee on this strip by holding the strip in the urine stream. Wait for a few minutes, and you will get the result.
Related Reading: DIY Toothpaste Pregnancy Test- All You Should Know
Cup type, on the other hand, comes with a cup and dropper. You have to pee in the cup and use the dropper to drop the desired amount of urine in the test area. This type is ideal for minimizing mistakes, and it is less expensive than the strip types.
9 Pregnancy Test Kits In India- With Procedure To Use Them
So many brands of Pregnancy Test Kits are available in the Indian market. Therefore, the real challenge is not to find a pregnancy test kit, but to find the most efficient one for you. Here we are introducing you to 9 pregnancy test kits in India. You can buy them across stores or even online. Online buyers get more offers on price.
1. Prega news pregnancy test kit
Manufactured by: Mankind Pharmaceuticals Ltd
Merits: Prega News offers authentic and trustworthy test results within 3 minutes. It can detect the hCG level before 4-5 days of the due date of the period.
How it works: Prega news pregnancy test kit comes with a pack of a single-use chemical test strip and a dropper. Collect the first urine in the morning and with the help of the dropper provided, dispense 2-3 drops of urine into the sample well. You will get the result within three minutes.
Remember, dropping too much or too little urine in the sample well will adversely affect the result. Therefore, just in case you dropped too much or too low urine, it is recommended to use another strip to confirm the result.
How to read results: Two pink lines indicate a positive result and a single line indicates a negative pregnancy result.
Accuracy: 99%
Price: Many combo offers are available on online sites like Flipkart and Amazon. Pack of two costs INR 100.
2. PIRAMAL i-CAN Pregnancy Test Kit
Manufactured by: Piramal Healthcare
Merits: i-CAN Pregnancy Test Kit the most popular brand with Indian women due to its marketing and effectiveness. It is very easy to use. You can conduct this test as early as on the 6th day after having unprotected sex.
How it works: The pack comes with a dropper and chemical strip. All you need to do is put about three drops of urine in the small space in the kit, which appears “S”. The result will show within 1-5 minutes.
How to read results: A dark pink or purple coloured band near C and T area indicates pregnancy. If no band appears in the T region, it means you are not pregnant.
Accuracy: 99%
Price: INR165 for a pack of three
Related Reading: 35 Beautiful Ways To Announce Your Pregnancy To Your Husband
3. Dr Morepen Pregnancy Test
Manufactures: Dr Morepen
Merits: Dr Morepen Pregnancy Test kits are easy to use. Even the first-timers can use these without any trouble. As per the company, you don’t have to wait for the morning urine sample. You will get an accurate test result if conducted anytime during the day.
It is extremely sensitive to hCG so that it can detect the presence with accuracy and very early. It is a digital pregnancy test kit and gives fast and accurate results within 5 minutes.
How it works: The kit contains 1 test device and one disposable dropper. Collect the urine sample in a clean, dry container and with the dropper put 2 to 3 drops on the test device. You will get the result within 5 minutes.
How to read results: The dark purple colour line indicates pregnancy. The colour is helpful in reading tests that have lower detection levels.
Accuracy: High accuracy, more than 99%
Price: INR 500 for five tests; Rs. 60 per pack
4. Dr Reddy’s Velocit Pregnancy Kit
Manufactured by: Dr Reddy
Merits: It can be taken on the day of the missed period itself. The chances of a false pregnancy or inaccurate results are considerably low. Dr Reddy’s Velocit Pregnancy Kit is also easy to use and available commonly.
How it works: Add three drops of urine in the sample well of the test device. You will get the result in 5 minutes.
How to read results: One purple line at the Control region indicates you are not pregnant. Two purple lines at the Test and Control regions indicate pregnancy. If there are no visible lines or very faint lines in one or both regions, the test is invalid. In such a case, doing the test again is recommended.
Accuracy: 99%
Price: INR 130
5. Velocit Eazy Test Kit
Manufactured by: Dr Reddy
Merits: The best thing about Velocit Eazy Test Kit is, it is a one device kit. Therefore you can forget about the messy urine collection. Also, this kit is very cost-effective. You can use it on the first day of the missing period.
How it works: Hold the strip in the stream of urine directly. The strip comes with a thumb grip. Make sure the absorbent strip is pointed downwards in the urine stream for a maximum of 10 seconds.
How to read results: Velocit eazy will show you the result in about 3 minutes. Redline in the T Area indicates a positive result. The result is easily readable as the screen is wide.
Accuracy: 99%
Price: INR 98
Related Reading: 18 Early Signs Of Pregnancy Before Periods
6. Clearblue Plus Pregnancy Test Kit
Manufactured by: A joint venture between Procter & Gamble and Alere.
Merits: Clearblue plus is the only pregnancy test kit available in India that is approved by US FDA. It is one of the top worldwide bestsellers. You can use it to detect pregnancy as early as four days before you miss your period. While a wide 18-mm tip helps to help to collect an adequate sample, the integrated Flood guard technology helps to prevent oversampling.
How it works: Place the absorbent tip in your urine stream for 5 seconds. The results are ready in just 3 minutes. Keeps the absorbent tip pointing downwards throughout the testing process.
How to read results: The results come as ‘+’ or ‘-,’ pregnant and not pregnant, respectively.
Accuracy: Over 99%
Price: INR 175 for a pack of two
7. AccuTest hCG Pregnancy Test
Manufactured by: Cadila
Merits: Being widely available and pocket-friendly, AccuTest hCG pregnancy test is one of the top pregnancy test kits in India. It is commonly used by many women across India to detect pregnancy within the comfort of their homes.
How it works: Kit comes with a dropper and chemical strip. With the help of this dropper, place a few drops of morning urine collected in a clean container to the sample window. The result will be displayed in less than one minute.
How to read results: Two lines indicate pregnancy. One line indicates no pregnancy.
Accuracy: 99%
Price: INR 40 per kit.
8. Getnews Onestep Pregnancy Test
Manufactured by: Neclife
Merits: High accuracy and early detection is the most important feature of this kit.
How it works: Test device comes in individually packed foil pouches with a dropper and desiccant. Draw two drops of urine sample with the help of dropper and dispense it into the sample well of the test device. You can read the result in 5 minutes.
How to read results: Two color bands at the position T and C indicates pregnancy. One colour band at the position c indicates no pregnancy.
Accuracy: 99.9%
Price: INR 350
Related Reading: 12 Early Pregnancy Tips To Avoid Miscarriage
9 PREGAKEM Pregnancy Test Kit
Manufactured by: Alkem
Merits: It is one of the oldest brands of pregnancy kit in India trusted by lots of women. Easily available online as well as offline, it is widely used to confirm pregnancy privately with great accuracy.
How it works: Each Pregakem kit contains 1 Unique Urine Collection Tray, 1 test device, one dropper and one silica gel pouch/desiccant pouch. Collect the urine in the urine collection tray. Put three drops of urine in the sample well marked ‘S’ using the dropper provided. You will get your results within five minutes.
How to read results: If two pink/red lines appear in marked areas ‘T’ & ‘C’, it indicates a positive result. If only one pink line appears in the given marked area ‘C’, it indicates a negative result. If no lines appear in any window, or one red line in T it indicates the invalid result. I this case, the test needs to be conducted again.
Accuracy: 99%
Price: It costs around INR 60 per kit. It is available online or pharmacies. Online offers may discounts. Pack of five kits is available in a significant discount of INR 177 on Flipkart.
So, above is the list of names of pregnancy test kits commonly available in India. Should there be any confusion, you can always take the test again (with an unused test kit) or reach out to your doctor. To be on the safe side, it is always advisable to buy 2 of them together so that in the event one is spoiled during the test, you can have the other one readily available.