Delhi has climbed sharply in the Centre’s annual assessment of efforts to combat urban air pollution, securing the 21st position among cities with populations exceeding 10 lakh in the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026. The Capital finished ahead of several major cities, including Bengaluru, Srinagar, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, even as its actual pollution levels continue to remain significantly above national standards.
Delhi scored 172 points and shared the 21st position with Visakhapatnam, improving from the 32nd rank it secured in the 2025 edition with 157.3 points. Srinagar was placed 26th with 162.6 points, Mumbai 28th with 160.8, Bengaluru 32nd with 152.6, Chennai 35th with 147.7 and Kolkata 38th with 142.2. Hyderabad, however, performed better than Delhi and finished 19th, while Patna stood at 16th with 178 points.
Lucknow emerged as the leading city in the million-plus population category with 198 points, followed by Indore. Jabalpur took the third spot with 195 points, while Bhopal and Agra shared fourth place with 192 points each.
Ranking goes beyond AQI
Delhi’s position does not indicate that its residents breathe cleaner air than people living in all the cities ranked below it. The Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan, conducted under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), assesses the measures adopted by urban administrations to reduce pollution and the effectiveness of their implementation rather than simply arranging cities according to prevailing air-quality readings.
The assessment considers interventions to control road dust, manage solid and construction waste, curb emissions from vehicles and industries, address pollution from commercial establishments and diesel generator sets, and increase public awareness. All 130 cities covered by the NCAP participated in the fifth edition of the exercise and were divided into three population categories.
The ranking involved multiple stages of scrutiny, beginning with assessments by the cities themselves and examination by state-level monitoring committees. The Central Pollution Control Board subsequently evaluated the submissions, while independent panels carried out field verification.
Delhi’s improved performance in the survey comes against the backdrop of persistently high particulate pollution. During 2025, its annual average PM10 concentration stood at 198 micrograms per cubic metre, while PM2.5 averaged 97 micrograms per cubic metre. The corresponding national annual standards are 60 and 40 micrograms per cubic metre. The Capital also experienced another difficult winter, with the highest level of restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan imposed in January 2026 after air quality deteriorated sharply.
Most cities show improvement
The broader results of the NCAP assessment indicate progress across many urban centres, although compliance with national standards remains limited. Of the 130 cities covered by the programme, 108 registered reductions in PM10 concentrations during 2025-26 compared with the 2017-18 baseline. Seventy-two cities achieved reductions exceeding 20 per cent, while 26 recorded declines of more than 40 per cent. Only 14 cities, however, met the prescribed national ambient air-quality standard.
The Centre has provided Rs 16,425 crore in performance-linked grants to the 130 NCAP cities to bridge gaps in infrastructure and support pollution-control measures.
In the category covering cities with populations between three lakh and 10 lakh, Odisha’s Rourkela secured the top position, while Firozabad and Guntur jointly finished second. Kalinga Nagar led the category for cities with populations below three lakh, followed by Angul and Talcher.
The results underline an important distinction in interpreting the survey: a better position reflects progress in pollution-control action, not necessarily cleaner air. For Delhi, the rise in ranking therefore signals improvement in the administrative response to pollution, while the Capital’s particulate concentrations show that the larger battle for breathable air remains far from over.