93 of the World's 100 Most Polluted Cities Are in India — and Delhi's Air Crossed 2,000

The morning after Diwali, India woke up to a ranking that looked like a misprint: 93 of the 100 most polluted cities on the planet were Indian. Delhi's readings shot past 2,000 on third-party monitors. A professional tennis final in Chennai was called off because the players could not see through the smoke. And Punjab lit more than a thousand stubble fires in a single day. This was not an ordinary bad-air day. It was the worst of the season, arriving all at once.

A Ranking Dominated by One Country

Live rankings from air-quality platform AQI.in, updated at 10:05 AM on Monday, 9 November, put 93 Indian cities among the world's 100 most polluted. Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan topped the global list at 868, followed by Faridkot at 842 and Bathinda at 797; New Delhi ranked 15th at 380. An earlier snapshot that morning had the Indian share even higher — 99 of 100. The exact count shifts as the live ranking refreshes, but the picture does not change. The Central Pollution Control Board's citywide average stood at 366–371, "very poor", with 20 of 59 stations "severe". Delhi's PM2.5 hit 170 micrograms per cubic metre, about 34 times the WHO annual guideline.

Why the 2,000 Number Needs Explaining

The 2,000 figure needs a careful reading, because two scales are being quoted as one. India's official AQI runs 0–500; above 400 is "severe". The readings past 2,000 come from third-party platforms using the US AQI calculation, which does not cap at 500. AQI.in reported Delhi peaking at 2,283, with 2,552 in Sunder Vihar and 2,236 in Rajouri Garden. Both scales describe the same poisoned air. What matters is what either means for the people breathing it — and the emergency Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) Stage III restrictions, banning construction and restricting vehicles across Delhi-NCR, have been in force since 6 November.

A Tennis Final That Could Not Go Ahead

The pollution even stopped professional sport. The WTA 250 Chennai Open women's final — Janice Tjen of Indonesia against Poland's Magda Linette — was due at 6:30 PM on Sunday at the SDAT Tennis Stadium. Rain delayed it repeatedly, then Diwali-fireworks smog engulfed the stadium until play became impossible. The final was postponed to 11 AM on Monday, the reserve day. Tjen posted a photo of the smog with an AQI reading of 1,556 and criticised organisers for still wanting the match to go ahead. At one point on Sunday, Chennai itself topped the live global pollution rankings. The final was eventually played on Monday — and Linette came from a set down to beat defending champion Tjen 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 and lift the title, later backing the decision to postpone.

The Fires Behind the Smoke

One of the biggest contributors came from the fields. Punjab recorded 1,152 stubble-burning incidents on Diwali day — the sharpest single-day spike of the season, nearly double the previous high of 584 on 3 November — taking the season total to 4,459. Officials have inspected 2,998 fields and verified 1,317 burning sites. With 91 percent of the paddy harvested and the wheat-sowing date of 15 November approaching, farmers are clearing fields fast, and the smoke drifts straight into Delhi's stagnant winter air.

The Decade-Long Toll

Behind the daily numbers sits a slower count. A study in The Lancet Planetary Health (December 2024), covering 655 districts from 2009 to 2019, estimated about 3.8 million deaths in India were attributable to PM2.5 above India's own standard — and 16.6 million against the WHO's stricter guideline, nearly a quarter of all deaths in the period. Every 10-microgram rise in annual PM2.5 was linked to an 8.6 percent rise in mortality.

A single day's ranking will fade; the fires will be put out; the tennis final was eventually played. But 93 of 100 cities, readings past 2,000 and a final abandoned mid-tournament are not a one-day spike. They are the visible surface of a crisis that has been killing millions, quietly, for a decade, while the argument about whose fault it is goes around in the same circle every November. Until that circle breaks, next Diwali will look exactly like this one.

This article is for general information only and is not medical advice. Air-quality figures cited are from live third-party rankings and official monitoring data as reported on 9 November 2026; live rankings change through the day.

For the other Diwali story of the weekend, see our report on Diwali celebrations disrupted in Seattle, and for another Delhi-linked story, see the Chinese streamers who filmed a Dhaka slum as Delhi.

Sources: Moneycontrol and The Indian Express, with corroboration from Scroll, Oneindia, India TV, News18, and The Lancet Planetary Health.