telegraph.co.uk

The British-based firm held a writing competition in India in the hope of discovering new literary talent to appeal to the country's expanding middle class.

Mrs Vohra, a 44-year-old advertising executive, overwhelmed the judges with her short story, the Love Asana, and is now poised to become one of the publisher's star writers.

A self-confessed "foolish romantic". Mrs Asana, wrote her winning 2,000-word entry in one night and will not receive specialist coaching to hone her erotic writing skills.

Her story tells the stroy of love conquering all in a yoga class.

India had already supplied the exotic setting for several Mills & Boon books by Western authors. The results have included the recent Virgin for the Billionaire's Taking.

But the publisher, which sells four books every second, is now looking to nurture local talent to bridge cultural divides and boost sales further. It set up its first office in India last year.

Mrs Vohra, who met her husband at the age of 17 and married at 24, told The Times newspaper: "I see the typical M&B reader in India as a young middle-class woman who travels to her data-entry job by bus every day."

The married mother-of-two added: "She keeps her M&Bs tucked away, hidden among her delicates in a cupboard at home."