New Delhi | January 9, 2026: Only about 4% of India’s chronically polluted cities are currently covered under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), according to a new analysis released by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The report highlights deep structural gaps in India’s air quality governance, with nearly 44% of cities remaining in persistent PM2.5 non-attainment for more than five consecutive years.
Nearly Half of Indian Cities Face Chronic Air Pollution
Using satellite-based PM2.5 data, CREA assessed air quality levels across 4,041 statutory towns in India. The analysis found that 1,787 cities exceeded the national annual PM2.5 standard every year between 2019 and 2024, excluding the COVID-impacted year of 2020. This indicates that air pollution in India is year-round and systemic, driven largely by continuous emission sources such as transport, industries, and coal-based power plants, rather than seasonal or episodic factors.
Despite the scale of the problem, NCAP currently covers only 130 cities, of which just 67 overlap with the 1,787 persistently non-attainment cities. This means the flagship clean air programme addresses only a small fraction of India’s most polluted urban areas, leaving the majority without focused mitigation measures.
Uttar Pradesh Tops List of Non-Attainment Cities
State-wise analysis shows Uttar Pradesh leading with 416 chronically polluted cities, followed by Rajasthan (158), Gujarat (152), Madhya Pradesh (143), Punjab and Bihar (136 each), and West Bengal (124).
Mixed Progress in NCAP Cities; PM10 Levels Rise in 23 Cities
Of the 130 NCAP cities, 28 still lack Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS). Among the remaining 102 cities with monitoring infrastructure, 100 reported over 80% PM10 data coverage.
Progress in reducing PM10 pollution remains uneven. While 23 cities achieved the revised 40% PM10 reduction target, 28 recorded reductions between 21% and 40%, and 26 cities saw modest improvements of 1–20%, another 23 cities witnessed an increase in PM10 levels since the programme’s inception.
India’s Most Polluted Cities in 2025
According to CREA’s PM2.5 assessment for 2025, Byrnihat (Assam) emerged as India’s most polluted city with an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 100 µg/m³, followed by Delhi (96 µg/m³) and Ghaziabad (93 µg/m³). Other cities in the top 10 include Noida, Gurugram, Greater Noida, Bhiwadi, Hajipur, Muzaffarnagar, and Hapur.
In terms of PM10 pollution, Delhi topped the list with an annual average of 197 µg/m³, nearly three times the national standard. Ghaziabad (190 µg/m³) and Greater Noida (188 µg/m³) followed closely. Rajasthan had the highest number of cities in the Top 50 PM10-polluted cities (18), followed by Uttar Pradesh (10), Madhya Pradesh (5), and Bihar and Odisha (four each).
NCAP Funding Focused on Infrastructure, Not Emission Sources
Since its launch, ₹13,415 crore has been released under NCAP and the XV Finance Commission grants, of which ₹9,929 crore (74%) has been utilised. A significant 68% of the expenditure has gone towards road dust management, followed by transport (14%) and waste and biomass burning (12%).
In contrast, industries, domestic fuel use, and public outreach each received less than 1% of the funding, while capacity building and monitoring accounted for just 3%. CREA noted that reported NCAP progress largely centres on infrastructure-driven measures such as road paving, mechanical sweeping, greening, and waste processing, with limited action on direct emission reductions at source.
Call for Science-Based Reforms in Air Quality Governance
Calling for urgent reforms, Manoj Kumar, India Analyst at CREA, said India must strengthen its air quality governance through targeted, science-based interventions.
“India’s only way forward is to prioritise PM2.5 and its precursor gases like SO₂ and NO₂ over PM10, revise the list of non-attainment cities under NCAP, enforce stricter emission standards for industries and power plants, allocate funding based on source apportionment studies, and adopt an airshed-based approach to address air pollution at a regional scale,” Kumar said.
The analysis underscores that without expanding NCAP coverage and shifting focus towards source-level emission control, India’s air pollution crisis is unlikely to see sustained improvement.
