Nearly 44 per cent of Indian cities face chronic air pollution, pointing to a structural and long-term emissions problem, while only 4 per cent of these cities are covered under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), a new analysis has found.
The assessment by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), based on satellite data, analysed PM2.5 concentrations in 4,041 cities across the country.
“Out of 4,041, at least 1,787 cities exceeded the national annual PM2.5 standard every year across five recent years (2019–2024), excluding the COVID-affected year of 2020. This means nearly 44 per cent of Indian cities face chronic air pollution, indicating a structural problem driven by persistent emission sources rather than short-term episodes,” the report said.
Despite the scale of the problem, the analysis found limited coverage under NCAP. “Just 130 cities were included under NCAP, and only 67 overlap with the 1,787 persistently non-attainment cities. As a result, NCAP currently addresses only 4 per cent of India’s chronically polluted cities, leaving the vast majority outside targeted clean air action,” it added.
The PM2.5 assessment for 2025 ranked Byrnihat in Assam as the most polluted city in the country, followed by Delhi and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, with annual concentrations of 100 µg/m³, 96 µg/m³ and 93 µg/m³, respectively. Noida ranked fourth, followed by Gurugram, Greater Noida, Bhiwadi, Hajipur, Muzaffarnagar and Hapur.
Non-attainment cities are those identified by the Central Pollution Control Board that consistently fail to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The report said Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of such cities at 416, followed by Rajasthan (158), Gujarat (152), Madhya Pradesh (143), Punjab and Bihar (136 each), and West Bengal (124).
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The report also flagged gaps in monitoring, noting that 28 of the 130 NCAP cities still lack continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations. Among the 102 cities with such stations, 100 reported PM10 levels of 80 per cent or higher.
“Progress on PM10 control remains mixed. Twenty-three cities have achieved the revised 40 per cent PM10 reduction target, 28 cities have recorded 21–40 per cent reduction, 26 cities show modest improvements of 1–20 per cent, while 23 cities have in fact experienced an increase in PM10 levels since the programme’s inception,” the report said.
“For PM10, Delhi tops the list with an annual average of 197 µg/m³, three times the national standard. Ghaziabad and Greater Noida follow with averages of 190 µg/m³ and 188 µg/m³, respectively,” it added.
According to Manoj Kumar, India Analyst at CREA, governance reforms are essential. “This means prioritising PM2.5 and its precursor gases (sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide) over PM10, revising the list of non-attainment cities under NCAP, setting stricter emission standards for industries and power plants, allocating funding based on source apportionment studies, and adopting an airshed-based approach to address air pollution at a regional scale,” he said.
Since its launch, Rs 13,415 crore has been released under NCAP and Fifteenth Finance Commission grants, of which Rs 9,929 crore, or 74 per cent, has been utilised, with the bulk spent on road dust management.
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