India’s air quality crisis is deep, persistent, and unevenly distributed. While parts of southern India are relatively better managed, very high Air Quality Index (AQI) levels remain a serious national problem, particularly in large urban centres. Yet, policy responses have been hesitant. The dominant fear is that strong action on air pollution could slow GDP growth. This assumption, however, is deeply flawed. The challenge is not growth versus clean air, but how India chooses to grow.
Why high AQI persists despite its known costs
Air pollution in India imposes massive health and economic costs, from respiratory illness to reduced labour productivity. Still, authorities have largely avoided decisive interventions. The primary reason is the belief that stricter environmental policies would constrain industry, construction, transport, and urban expansion — all seen as drivers of GDP growth. This growth-first mindset has led to near-inaction on AQI, even though the long-term costs of polluted air far outweigh short-term compliance costs.
The big-city bias and its pollution legacy
High AQI is closely tied to India’s model of urbanisation, which favours the continuous expansion of mega-cities. Regions such as exemplify this problem. Large populations, long daily commutes, dense traffic, constant construction, demolition of older buildings, and infrastructure upgrades generate persistent pollution. These are structural, not episodic, sources of poor air quality.
Automobiles as a window into policy failure
The automobile sector highlights how growth and pollution control can be reconciled. In , electric vehicles (EVs) have reached near price parity with petrol vehicles, and close to half of new vehicle production is electric. India, by contrast, has high EV prices and inadequate charging infrastructure, which restricts market size, economies of scale, and cost reduction.
Using policy to restructure, not shrink, growth
Targeted policy action can change this trajectory:
- Meaningful subsidies for electric vehicles
- Rapid expansion of charging infrastructure
- Significant tax increases on petrol and diesel vehicles
Such a strategy can be revenue-neutral while restructuring — not diminishing — the automobile industry’s contribution to GDP. Some petrol vehicle manufacturing capacity may become obsolete, but the gains in public health and human capital would be far greater.
The human capital cost of polluted air
High AQI damages cognitive and physical development in children, leading to stunting and reduced lifetime productivity. This is an invisible but severe drag on future GDP growth. If millions of children grow up with impaired health due to polluted air, their long-term contribution to the economy will be permanently reduced. alone adds around 500 passenger cars every day, compounding this long-term damage.
Why India must move beyond mega-cities
A sustainable solution requires rethinking India’s urban strategy. Endless expansion of already-large cities intensifies pollution, congestion, and infrastructure stress. Developing new urban areas — or expanding smaller, distant cities — can ease population pressure and reduce AQI. While construction costs are high, land, the largest cost component of urban development, is far cheaper in smaller cities.
The State as facilitator of new urban growth
With many States diluting provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, policy space exists to enable new urban development. The government need not directly build or finance cities; it can act as an enabler by providing regulatory clarity, connectivity, and planning support. Private developers can create integrated urban ecosystems in phases. The emergence of in the 1980s and 1990s illustrates how such a model can work.
Cleaner development can also raise growth
New and smaller urban centres begin with lower AQI levels and can be designed around clean energy, efficient public transport, waste management, and compact urban form. This reduces long commutes, congestion, and repeated restructuring — all major pollution sources in older cities. By geographically redistributing production and consumption, India can sustain, and potentially accelerate, aggregate GDP growth.
What to note for Prelims?
- Air Quality Index (AQI) and its health impacts
- Major urban sources of air pollution in India
- Role of electric vehicles in emission reduction
- Link between urbanisation patterns and air quality
What to note for Mains?
- Is there a trade-off between economic growth and environmental protection?
- Urbanisation, transport policy, and air pollution
- Human capital losses due to environmental degradation
- Reimagining India’s development model for sustainable growth
