New Delhi, June 8 -- Summer's favourite fruit is getting a financial makeover.

Consumers are increasingly paying upfront for guaranteed access to premium mangoes through seasonal tree rentals and products marketed as "mango bonds"-arrangements that promise annual deliveries of fruit in exchange for long-term commitments.

For some buyers, the appeal is financial. For others, it is emotional.

Karun Singh, a Gurgaon-based marketing professional, grew up watching his father return home every summer carrying a five-kilogram bag of mangoes and finishing half of it in a single evening.

Last year, Singh decided to gift him something different: a rented Alphonso mango tree in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra.

The tree cost Rs.7,500 and came with the se...