Gurgaon was India's most polluted city in March, with Haryana accounting for four of the country's 10 most polluted cities, according to a new report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
The other cities in the top 10 polluted list for March were Bahadurgarh, Faridabad, Singrauli, Mandideep, Ghaziabad, Manesar, Bhiwadi, Noida and Nandesari. For the entire financial year 2025-26, Ghaziabad was the most polluted city.
"Gurgaon was India's most polluted city in March, with a monthly average PM2.5 of 116 μg/m3. Haryana accounted for four of India’s top 10 most polluted cities, followed by two cities each from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, and one each from Rajasthan and Gujarat.
"Haryana had the highest number of cities exceeding the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), with nine out of 24 recording PM2.5 higher than the NAAQS. That was followed by Uttar Pradesh with eight out of 21 cities exceeding the NAAQS," the report said.
An analysis of India's National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which evaluates PM10 reductions on a financial year basis, showed that just a few cities met the NCAP targets after seven years of implementation.
"Among the cities showing improvement, nine cities in Uttar Pradesh recorded reductions of over 40 per cent in PM10 levels compared to the NCAP baseline year (2017-18). Similar reductions were also reported in three cities in Maharashtra and two cities each in West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Rajasthan, and one city each in Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Assam," the report said.
"States with the most cities showing an increase in PM10 levels included Odisha with five cities, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh with each two cities. Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu each had one city with an increase in concentration with reference to the baseline year," it added.
Dehradun (Uttarakhand) reported the largest reduction in PM10 levels at 75 per cent compared to 2017-18, while Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) recorded the highest increase at 73 per cent. Delhi saw a 17 per cent reduction in PM10 levels over the same period.
"Many cities are still far from meeting the revised NCAP targets, and some have even seen rising pollution levels, which is a serious concern. As the programme moves into its next phase, there is an opportunity to base interventions on robust, science-based solutions, with funding directed towards the major pollution sources identified in each region," said Manoj Kumar, analyst at CREA.
"In recent years, more cities have slipped into non-attainment status, which means that revising NCAP to include emerging hotspots, adopting a regional approach, and enforcing stricter emission standards will all be essential," he added.
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