Ghaziabad topped India’s pollution chart in November with hazardous PM2.5 levels.
Vehicles, industry, dust and power plants are major year-round pollution sources.
Reduced stubble-burning helped, but cities still breach national air quality standards.
Ghaziabad emerged as the most polluted city in India in November, with a monthly average PM2.5 concentration of 224 microgram per cubic metre and air quality remaining above the national standards on all 30 days, according to a report published by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
Noida, Bahadurgarh, Delhi, Hapur, Greater Noida, Baghpat, Sonipat, Meerut and Rohtak joined Ghaziabad among the 10 most polluted cities, the CREA report stated. Uttar Pradesh accounted for six of these cities, followed by Haryana with three and Delhi.
1 December 2025
Get the latest issue of Outlook Business
Except Delhi, all other cities in the top 10 logged higher PM2.5 levels than the previous year. Delhi ranked the fourth most polluted city with a monthly average PM2.5 concentration of 215 microgram per cubic metre in November, almost double its October average of 107. The city saw 23 very poor days, six severe days and one poor day.
"Despite a significant reduction in stubble-burning influence, 20 out of 29 NCR cities recorded higher pollution levels than the previous year and many still did not register a single day within NAAQS limits. This clearly indicates that the dominant drivers are year-round sources such as transport, industry, power plants and other combustion sources. Without sector-specific emission cuts, cities will continue to breach standards," Manoj Kumar, Analyst at CREA stated in the news release.
The influence of stubble burning was lower this year, contributing an average of 7% to Delhi's pollution in November, compared to 20% last year. The peak contribution reached 22%, well below 38% recorded last year, CREA said.
Except Bahadurgarh, none of the top 10 cities saw even one day within the safe daily limit under the national standards. Several other cities, including Charkhi Dadri, Bulandshahr, Jind, Muzaffarnagar, Gurgaon, Khurja, Bhiwani, Karnal, Yamunanagar and Faridabad, also reported PM2.5 levels above the limit every day.
At the state level, Rajasthan had the highest number of polluted cities, with 23 of 34 exceeding the national limit in November.
Haryana had 22 of 25 such cities, and Uttar Pradesh had 14 of 20 above the standard. High levels were also reported in 9 of 12 cities in Madhya Pradesh, 9 of 14 in Odisha and 7 of 8 in Punjab.
Shillong in Meghalaya was the cleanest city, with a monthly average PM2.5 concentration of 7 microgram per cubic metre. The top 10 cleanest cities included six from Karnataka and one each from Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
According to a report published by Down To Earth on December 1, Punjab and Haryana have collectively recorded about 90% reduction in stubble fire incidents during the 2025 paddy harvesting season, in comparison to the same period in 2022, Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change told Lok Sabha.
While the reduction in stubble-burning has helped, pollution levels remain high across the region in Delhi-NCR.
Year- Round Factors at Play
Despite reduced stubble-burning this November, sources such as vehicles, industry, dust and power plants, fuelled record‑high PM2.5 levels across multiple North Indian cities, including Ghaziabad and Delhi.
The data show that winter smog is no longer seasonal and it stems from year‑round urban pollution. Without strong sector‑specific emission reductions, breaking the ‘everyday smog’ cycle will be difficult.
(With inputs from PTI.)
