Nearly 44 per cent of Indian cities suffer from chronic air pollution driven by persistent emission sources, yet only a small fraction fall under the Centre’s flagship clean air programme, according to a new analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
Byrnihat in Assam ranked India’s most polluted city in the PM2.5 assessment for 2025, followed by Delhi and Ghaziabad, with Noida, Gurugram and Greater Noida close behind, pointing to widespread and persistent air quality failures across urban India.
Uttar Pradesh topped the list of non-attainment cities with 416, followed by Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, according to an analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
Of the 130 cities covered under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), 28 still lack continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS). Among the 102 cities with monitoring infrastructure, 100 reported PM10 levels of 80 per cent or higher, the report said, raising questions over the effectiveness and reach of India’s flagship clean air initiative.
Using satellite data, CREA assessed PM2.5 levels across 4,041 cities nationwide. The study found that at least 1,787 cities exceeded the national annual PM2.5 standard every year over five recent years between 2019 and 2024, excluding the COVID-affected year of 2020.
“Out of 4,041, at least 1,787 cities exceeded the national annual PM2.5 standard every year across five recent years (2019–2024)… 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, only 130 cities are covered under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), with just 67 overlapping with the persistently non-attainment cities. “As a result, NCAP currently addresses only 4 per cent of India’s chronically polluted cities,” the report added.
"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.
Rajasthan has the highest number of cities in the Top 50 in terms of PM10 concentration, 18 in total, followed by Uttar Pradesh (10), Madhya Pradesh (5), and Bihar and Odisha (four each)," the report said.
According to Manoj Kumar, India Analyst, CREA, strengthening the country's air quality governance through targeted, science-based reforms may be the only way forward.
"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 the programme's inception, Rs 13,415 crore has been released under the NCAP and 15th Finance Commission grants, of which Rs 9,929 crore (74 per cent) has been utilised.
Road dust management accounts for 68 per cent of spending, followed by transport (14 per cent) and waste and biomass burning (12 per cent), while industries, domestic fuel use, public outreach (each less than 1 per cent), and capacity building and monitoring (3 per cent) received limited allocations.