Delhi’s Air Quality Improves; CAQM Revokes Stage‑I GRAP Measures in NCR

Delhi’s air quality has improved sharply, prompting the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to revoke Stage‑I restrictions of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) across NCR with immediate effect. The daily average AQI dropped from 175 on May 3 to 88 on May 4, aided by rainfall and favourable weather conditions.

Key Developments

• Revocation of Stage‑I GRAP: Effective May 4, 2026, all Stage‑I curbs (invoked on April 16) have been lifted across Delhi‑NCR.
• AQI Levels: Delhi’s AQI improved from 175 (‘Moderate’) on May 3 to 88 (‘Satisfactory’) on May 4, according to CPCB data.
• Forecasts: IMD and IITM predict AQI will remain in the Satisfactory to Moderate range in the coming days.

Restrictions Lifted

• Ban on coal and firewood in tandoors at hotels, restaurants, and open eateries.
• Limited use of diesel generators (now permitted beyond emergency situations).
• Heightened dust mitigation measures under Stage‑I relax.

Government Directives

• Agencies in NCR must continue implementing statutory directions, advisories, and pollution control measures issued by MoEF&CC, CPCB, DPCC, and State Governments.
• Dust mitigation and compliance with crop residue management rules remain critical to sustain improved AQI.
• CAQM will closely monitor AQI trends and re‑impose measures if pollution levels rise.

Broader Context

• GRAP Framework: 
• Stage‑I: AQI 201–300 (Poor);
• Stage‑II: AQI 301–400 (Very Poor);
• Stage‑III: AQI 401–500 (Severe);
• Stage‑IV: AQI > 450 (Severe+).
• Recent Enforcement: In April 2026, CAQM imposed ₹61.85 crore in penalties on six coal‑based thermal power plants for failing to comply with biomass co‑firing rules.

Conclusion

The revocation of Stage‑I GRAP reflects Delhi’s improving air quality and the impact of favourable weather. However, CAQM has stressed that sustained vigilance and strict compliance with pollution control measures are essential to prevent deterioration. The Commission will continue to review AQI levels and forecasts to decide on future interventions.

Air Quality Experts Across Borders Join Hands for Healthy Indoor Air Across South East Asia

Indoor air quality experts in India - ActiveBuildings joins hands with clean air technology pioneers - PureLiving to broaden the geographical reach and provide end-to-end solutions for clean indoor air.

Indian air quality tech experts ActiveBuildings and leading indoor environment consultancy and engineering firm PureLiving, officially announced a collaboration to provide clean and healthy indoor air solutions to offices and homes across South East Asia. The collaboration widens the resource pool in terms of data points, research and technology, and aims to protect more people from breathing polluted indoor air.

South Asia is home to 37 of the 40 most polluted cities in the world as per the World Air Quality Report. Over 60% of the population lives in areas where the PM2.5 levels exceed the WHO standards, increasing the risk of chronic respiratory disorders. With technology like automated air filtration and ventilation management systems that can retro-fit into existing buildings, large indoor spaces can remain free from PM 2.5, virus transmissions, odours, chemicals and elevated CO2 in the breathable air.

After the recent pandemic, the need for clean and disease-free indoor air has become a priority, particularly with the return of the work-from-office module. Abhinav Gupta, CEO of ActiveBuildings points out, “Most workspaces in India were not built keeping in mind air-borne diseases and indoor air pollution. Our data highlights that most office spaces face high CO2 and most homes have high particulate pollution. ActiveBuildings has mostly focused on air testing and offering recommendations for the space. With this collaboration we can offer end to end solutions pan Asia, from air monitoring to ventilation and filtration that can be installed on the existing systems.”

Louie Cheng, President of PureLiving, says, “Our focus has always been health, sustainability and smart buildings. We have seen great results with products like VentMate and PureQi in China and hope to bring the same impact to the Indian market for clean air. This collaboration with ActiveBuildings, opens new possibilities for both companies to continue pioneering approaches to creating healthier indoor environments.”

Indoor air quality can be over five times worse than outside air. Tobacco-smoke, incense-burning, dust, printer inks, air fresheners, deodorants, scented candles, varnishes, paints as well as human metabolism, all add to pollutants like PM2.5, PM10, VOCs, Ozone and CO2 in the indoor environment. Breathing such pollutants can cause eye inflammation, throat irritation, allergies in the short run, and lung infections, cardio-vascular diseases and cancer over longer periods of time.

About ActiveBuildings

ActiveBuildings is a tech start-up engaged in the research and development of technology that can improve the health, comfort and productivity of buildings and their occupants through Indoor Environment & Air Quality management. It has successfully developed RESET certified Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) monitoring sensors and cost-effective air filtration devices inspired by the Corsi-Rosenthal boxes. ActiveBuildings has deployed over 1000+ sensors and air cleaners across India and provided affordable low-cost air quality testing to over 7.3 million sq.ft of real estate in India and Middle East, and collected over 840 Million data points. With a mission of Clean Air For All, they are also providing 10,000 air cleaners and 5,000 sensors free of cost in various low-income communities facing high levels of air pollution as part of their community project - Sarva. For more information visit www.activebuildings.io.

About PureLiving

PureLiving is a leading indoor environmental consulting company with a simple mission: to help our clients create healthy homes and workplaces. Our expert team of building engineers, HVAC specialists, and environmental consultants advises clients on air and water quality, mold, asbestos and lead exposure issues and helps to improve their indoor environmental quality through testing to identify sources of pollution and then eliminating them. Our total range of solutions includes pollutant testing, design and installation of cutting-edge filtration systems, monitoring, and odor and chemical reduction. With operations across Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East, PureLiving is the industry’s provider of choice for assessment, engineering, implementation, and monitoring of indoor environmental quality. Find out more at www.purelivingchina.com.

Paytm Foundation and United Nations Environment Program join hands to establish Air Quality Action Forum

Representational

Set to work together and put forth discussions, challenges and solutions for tackling India’s air pollution crisis

National and International organizations convened to share scale up programs to reduce air pollution

Under the Corporate sector pillar, which is one of the 6 stakeholder pillars under the AQAF, startups working on scalable air pollution related technologies invited to share their technologies

Paytm Foundation in partnership with United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) set up the Air Quality Action Forum. The forum, through stakeholder consultations, will highlight the efforts undertaken to mitigate the impact of air pollution in India.

The launch of the AQAF is a step to facilitate an inclusive approach towards curbing air pollution in India. In a step towards the same, effective implementation along with collaboration between all the stakeholders, including from the government is key to achieving the desired objectives under it.

While addressing one of the consultation meetings, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm, said, “We all must come together to mitigate the impact of air pollution in India. The Forum will work towards creating corporate champions. The air quality meters should become part of the Production Linked Incentive scheme."

"There is a need for the inclusion of a clean air initiative as part of “Swachh Bharat Mission” with ranking of states and cities on the basis of air pollution levels," he added.

In line with the objectives of the AQAF, consultation meetings were organized across all six stakeholders, aimed to identify everyone’s views on various issues concerning air pollution in India, and the possible solutions that could lead to its reduction.

Some of the solutions that came out of the consultation meetings are:

1. Need to create an ecosystem for innovative solutions and products
2. Promoting pilot studies/ projects to understand the efficacy and scalability of local solutions
3. Integration of health aspects in the current framework for air quality management and standardization of air quality measurement parameters

The feedback and suggestions from these discussions have provided critical inputs to draft a report on understanding the challenges, gaps, needs and synergizing solutions. The report will be released at the Forum Convention soon. The Centre of Excellence for Research in Climate Change, (CERCA) at IIT-D is being onboarded as an implementing partner. Many other public and private sector organizations and well-known academic institutions like DTU participated and contributed to the success of the consultation meetings.

During the consultations, Shri. Arvind Nautiyal, Member Secretary, Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas, Mr. Sudheer Chintalapati, Joint Director, MoEFCC, and Dr. Prashant Gargava, Member Secretary, CPCB also provided useful insights on the initiatives that the government is undertaking for air pollution mitigation.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma has been named as UN’s environment patron for clean air. This initiative is part of Paytm’s commitment to advocate UN Environment's global BreatheLife campaign by generating awareness about pressing social and environmental issues, and alleviating them through collaborative partnerships.

Recognizing Poor Indoor Air Quality Menace with the Onset of Summers

This content has been authored by Varun Pahwa, President, Desiccant Rotors International (DRI)

With low pangs of summers already being felt, people will be more prone to spend time indoors to beat the heat outside. There will be many who will be taking a sigh of relief thinking that now they will be free from the poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) menace prevalent during winters. But in reality, the issue of poor IAQ is a persistent issue all-round the year. It only gets worsened in summers with centralized air conditioning systems in the enclosed spaces that leave no space for the influx of fresh air and only stale air keeps circulating in the building.

The impact is felt even more starkly in industries like healthcare, construction, factories, hotels, airports, given to their packed, and complex structure that deteriorates the air quality within the premises. Moreover, these places often being huddled with large crowds compounds the problem.

As a result, there have been rising instances of ‘Sick Building Syndrome’ which is a serious threat to the health and overall wellbeing of the person. Additionally, the poor IAQ is also responsible for a wide range of issues like breathing problems, lethargy, pain in the eyes, and other long-term illnesses.

In order to arrest the issue, people need to be aware that the indoor air can easily get influenced by the outdoor air and is 10 times worse and more harmful because of restricted airflow in the enclosed area. It is not just the metropolitan cities that get affected but even the surrounding cities face the menace of poor indoor air quality.

Hence, highly efficient building management systems must be installed in centrally conditioned spaces such as office complexes, homes, malls, hotels, restaurants, auditoriums, and various other closed premises to not just deal with the contaminants/pollutants generated indoors but ensure that outdoor pollution like PM 2.5, PM10, VOCs as well other gaseous contaminants are not brought inside enclosed spaces through conditioning systems.

Understanding that the major cause of poor IAQ is the lack of clean fresh air in the buildings which only worsens with the presence of moisture, ensuring proper ventilation is the best solution to improve indoor air pollution. It dilutes the contaminated air indoors by utilizing the fresh air from outside. With the help of this approach, one can thoroughly clean the outside fresh air and introduce it into the building, maintaining positive pressure inside the building.

Here, HVAC&R systems are highly efficient in ensuring proper ventilation and are backed up with a wide range of advantages. It not just renders acceptable indoor air quality but also provides thermal comfort in the enclosed space. The system employs advanced desiccant technology that uses hygroscopic substances to suck moisture from the air in order to maintain the proper RH and cool down the indoor spaces. One of the primary benefits of this technology is that it tones down the air according to the requirement of the given space. The Energy Recovery systems ventilate the conditioned spaces without compromising on air conditioning load. Owing to this mechanism there is substantial reduction in the use of energy and utility costs.

Along with HVAC&R system installation, people must also be agile enough to adopt green building designs. Green Building Councils across the globe are playing a critical role in promoting awareness and certifying the importance of Indoor Air Quality in our day-to-day lives. The advanced buildings help in striking the right balance in the indoor air quality that does not compromise on the comfort of the people but at the same time coherently contribute to reducing the energy consumption of the building with the help of green products. These buildings are the most viable solution as it highly maintains proper relative humidity (RH) and prevents any growth of mold, mildew in the enclosed atmosphere.

With advanced systems in place and efficient air purifying systems, maintaining good indoor air quality, even in large spaces has become a cost-effective and doable affair.

Gspatial.ai - One of Its Kind Platform for Bulk Historical Air Quality and Weather Data Launched

Ambee’s Gspatial.ai will offer street-by-street, hourly historical air quality, and weather data for over 70+ countries covering the last 20+ years

Businesses, researchers, and government bodies can utilize Gspatial.ai’s historical air quality and weather data to mitigate climate change loss through deep insights and strategic decision-making

Ambee, a climate intelligence company that supplies hyperlocal environmental data in real-time, has launched Gspatial.ai, a new offering that provides historical air quality and weather data to businesses and governments across 70+ countries all over the world. The service includes street-by-street hourly air quality and weather data spanning the last 20+ years.

Ambee’s Gspatial.ai will benefit healthcare, pharma, insurance, logistics, retail, and even government bodies. Gspatial.ai helps mitigate the risks of climate change through deep and actionable insights on environmental factors, helping companies assess risks and make sound business decisions. Businesses can easily shop for historical air quality and weather data through Gspatial.ai’s website or a purpose-built API dashboard.

Commenting on the launch of Gspatial.ai, Madhusudan Anand, CTO and Co-Founder, of Ambee, said, “Our mission is to improve the health of millions of people but also the planet itself by developing products that can impact those affected by climate change.” He added that Gspatial.ai is a step in that direction, with easy access to reliable and accurate historical information on hyperlocal environmental factors. “This will help businesses understand how environmental events can have an impact on revenue. Industries such as oil & gas, energy, automobiles, insurance, healthcare, agriculture, and forestry are amongst the most vulnerable to climate risks. Businesses can use historical environmental data when looking at capital allocation, development of products or services, and supply-chain management. Through this product, we hope businesses can stay resilient to climate disasters, profitable and sustainable while helping their customers stay healthy,” explained Mr. Anand.

Then and Now

The Swiss Re Institute’s recent Climate Economics Index stress test reported that the global economy could lose up to 18% GDP from climate change by 2050. Further, the Environmental Research Letters journal at the University College of London, reports that by the year 2100, climate change will cost the world six times more than originally thought. The United in Science 2021 report says that the average global temperature was the highest on record for the last five years. Carbon dioxide levels are at their highest in 650,000 years. This past year has also recorded extreme weather and climate calamities, an effect of human-induced climate change.

It is clear that climate change is a huge risk to all businesses. Access to accurate and historical environmental data can help reduce loss and insulate against further risk through adaptability and climate resilience.

More on Gspatial Platform

One of the most important benefits of historical environmental data is risk assessment and insurance. Historical environmental data services like Gspatial.ai help in creating risk models that predict weather patterns; protect solvency by better investment decisions; aid resource optimization, and encourage policymakers to take action. For instance, environmental data oversees precipitation events (floods and mudslides); wildfire frequency and severity; temperature spikes; crop growth; soil erosion; and more. In the same vein, when it comes to logistics, for example, environmental intelligence will accurately identify a delivery window or adjust ETAs according to the weather; optimize inventory before inclement weather; and establish clear and cost-effective transportation, among other advantages.

Upcoming features in the Gspatial.ai platform:

• Hyperlocal emissions with CO2 in PPM and CO2e in Gigatons,
• Pollen, vegetation, satellite images, historical fires data,
• Historical severe weather events data,
• Bulk historical climate data,
• Environmental forecast data for more than 80 years and lots more.

For more details, visit https://www.gspatial.ai/

Ambee builds hyperlocal climate data and intelligence in real-time across the world. Using proprietary data science, Ambee provides location-specific, real-time data and actionable insights on air quality, weather, pollen, and various other environmental factors. Ambee’s data is consumed by businesses and administrators across the globe. Ambee was founded with an aim to democratize access to environmental data and tools that enable a better and healthier living experience.

Website: https://www.getambee.com/

Ambee Launches an All New Air Quality and Pollen Monitoring App for Real-time, Street-level Environmental Data

Know what you breathe with Ambee’s new and updated app for air quality data and environmental summary of your surroundings

Ambee, an environmental intelligence company that supplies hyperlocal data on environmental factors in real-time, has launched an all new version of their air quality monitoring app for accessing real-time air quality data at a street by street level.

The app will provide personalized, location-based air quality recommendations, send out alerts in case of higher pollution levels, and provide updates on other environmental factors such as pollen, rainfall, and a 7-day weather forecast for a user’s location of choice.

A report by the World Health Organization indicates that air pollution kills an estimated 7 million people worldwide. The air you breathe is a direct indicator of immediate and long-term health. Small changes in air pollution – the kind you might find between different streets or neighborhoods – are proven to significantly increase health risks. Even the COVID-19 pandemic has been shown to increase fatalities in areas with high air pollution. As per a study by Harvard University, a slight increase in long-term exposure to PM2.5 (Particulate Matter) leads to a significant increase in the COVID-19 death rate.

The first step towards mitigating the impact of air pollution is being aware of the air we breathe. Air quality data helps visualize and quantify the ambient air pollution at any given location, down to the postcode and neighborhood level. Through the Ambee app, users can get detailed insights into air pollutants such as PM2.5, PM10, and their health effects, personalized action-driven health recommendations to optimize daily activities, and receive regular air quality alerts to make healthier data-driven decisions. Ambee’s app provides air quality data for the largest number of locations on the planet.

Commenting on the app, Madhusudan Anand, CTO and Co-Founder, Ambee, said “Air pollution has become an inevitable part of our everyday lives. With increasing population and urbanization, air pollution is likely to increase in the years to come, and it is bound to have an adverse impact on the health of millions. One of the ways to mitigate the health impact of air pollution is to be aware of what you breathe and make conscious data-driven decisions that can minimize exposure to polluted air. At Ambee, our mission is to help people breathe clean air by making accurate, real-time, actionable air quality data easily accessible to people, businesses, and governments to improve overall world health. This app by Ambee is a step towards making air quality data easily available at your fingertips''

Ambee App is available on Android and iOS. To download, click on the link - https://apps.apple.com/in/app/air-quality-pollen-app-ambee/id1363721253 or https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ambee.android

About Ambee:

Ambee builds hyperlocal environmental data and intelligence in real-time across the world. Using proprietary data science, Ambee provides location-specific, real-time data and actionable insights on air quality, weather, pollen, and various other environmental factors. Ambee’s data is consumed by businesses and administrators across the globe. Ambee was founded with an aim to democratize access to environmental data and tools that enable a better and healthier living experienceWebsite: https://www.getambee.com/

Microsoft Azure Powered Climate-Tech Startup Respirer Living Sciences to Provide Real Time Air Quality Levels Across 122 Indian Cities

Image ~ http://atmos.urbansciences.in/

Powered by Microsoft Azure, Respirer Living Sciences is simplifying air quality monitoring in India

Provides insights on critical air quality levels across 122 Indian cities

To help spread awareness about air quality, climate-tech startup Respirer Living Sciences has developed a dashboard that provides real-time access to air quality pollution data. Powered by Microsoft Azure, this dashboard data can be leveraged to devise solutions from citizens and policymakers to tackle air pollution.

With an objective to improve the quality of life for people, the team at Respirer evaluated several parameters and air quality stood out among them. The startup realized that people were keen to know about the air quality in their immediate surroundings. However, the cost of setting up air quality monitoring solutions was very high, which prompted Respirer to start developing affordable air quality monitoring platforms, using sensors and IoT. However, sensors sometimes malfunctioned and recorded unnecessary data and noise which sometimes led to inaccuracies.

To achieve complete accuracy in mentoring air quality data, Respirer collaborated with Microsoft Research (MSR) India’s Center for Societal Impact through Cloud and Artificial Intelligence (SCAI). The startup is one of the four organizations in the program’s first cohort. MSR enabled them to integrate fault detection technology in their platform. Respirer platforms also use a technique called dependable IoT, developed by researchers at MSR, that monitors the health of IoT-based devices using a fingerprint of their battery’s performance.

Using machine learning and data visualization, Respirer built a dashboard, enabled by Power BI, to study data from 240 government air quality monitors as part of the National Clean Air Program tracker. The Power BI dashboard is able to run the data through Azure’s SQL servers, making the process fast and seamless. More importantly, it enables the Respirer team to execute all of this with a shorter turnaround time and with a small development team. It also enables government officials to check if any of their monitoring stations go offline and repair them in real time.

He's on a mission to enhance the quality of the air we breathe. Catch @rsutaria, Founder & CEO, @urbansciencesIN on the latest episode of #MicrosoftElevatedPitch, where he talks about how his #Startup is solving the pollution problem in the country. pic.twitter.com/hp5l6KP1Go

— Microsoft India (@MicrosoftIndia) August 18, 2021

Ronak Sutaria, Founder of Respirer Living Sciences said -

About 40 out of the 240 Continuous Air Quality Monitoring Stations set up by the government are in and around Delhi alone, which is why it’s no surprise that the city always leads in conversations around air pollution. Even in places where data exists, it’s stored in databases that not many track regularly or are not accessible to citizens. Scientific and accurate data in this space can provide meaningful insights and increase awareness about air quality across the country to enable greater involvement and action from citizens and policy makers.

The Respirer solution costs one-twentieth the price for installation of a regulatory air quality monitoring system. It provides easy access to data around historical trends and levels of different pollutants across individual cities on a yearly basis or during different times of the day. It also enables anyone to select different filters to get insights that are meaningful to them, thus eliminating the need for any data science knowledge.

Ronak added, "Typically, it would have taken us four to six months and a team of developers to pull out all the analytics and visualize that amount of data at these depths. But with Power BI, we were able to execute this project in just a little under four weeks with just one analytics engineer."

Respirer’s long-term vision is to create a network of low-cost air quality monitoring sensors to provide a wider scientific view of the air that India breathes. A reasonable analysis of air quality index in India will require a simplified collection of data across 4,000 to 8,000 locations in the country. The startup’s plan is to fill this gap with affordable air quality monitoring devices.

Around 1,000 Respirer devices have been used by housing societies, schools, industrial companies, and even government organizations for monitoring air quality in their locations. Respirer is working towards building a platform to make the data publicly available, across a unified platform, allowing delivery of hyper-local air quality data so citizens know the quality of air they are breathing at not just city level but even at a neighborhood level.