India is home to 99 of the world's 100 most polluted cities, according to AQI.in rankings on November 8. Bathinda topped the list with an AQI of 816 on Monday morning. Smoke from Diwali firecrackers and farm fires smothered north India, pushing air quality levels into the hazardous zone everywhere.
India is home to 99 of the world's 100 most polluted cities, according to real-time rankings by air quality monitoring platform AQI.in, as smoke from Diwali firecrackers and farm fires smothered large parts of north India on Monday morning.
Read: Delhi's cross-border smog? Pakistan's Punjab has 4 times more farm fires than India's Punjab
Punjab's Bathinda topped the global list at 8.30 am with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 816, followed by Faridkot at 804. Rewari in Haryana was third at 696, and Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan fourth at 689. New Delhi ranked fifth with an AQI of 635.
Lahore, at 15th with an AQI of 466, is the only city outside India among the most polluted.
99 out of 100 most polluted cities in the World are in India right now.
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-- AQI (@AQI_India) November 8, 2026
World's 20 most polluted cities at 8.30 am
Bathinda, Punjab: 816
Faridkot, Punjab: 804
Rewari, Haryana: 696
Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan: 689
New Delhi: 635
Sirsa, Haryana: 581
Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: 512
Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh: 506
Patiala, Punjab
Sagar, Madhya Pradesh: 488
Amritsar, Punjab: 474
Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh: 470
Hisar, Haryana: 468
Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh: 467
Lahore, Pakistan: 466
Bhiwani, Haryana: 462
Ludhiana, Punjab: 460
Faridabad, Haryana: 459
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Begusarai, Bihar: 452
AQI.in classified the air in all 20 cities as "hazardous."
Punjab, Haryana dominate
Punjab and Haryana account for 10 of the top 20 cities, with Bathinda, Faridkot, Patiala, Amritsar and Ludhiana from Punjab, and Rewari, Sirsa, Hisar, Bhiwani and Faridabad from Haryana. The list also includes cities far from the stubble-burning belt, such as Bhopal and Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, and Begusarai in Bihar.
The rankings come a day after Diwali, when firecrackers went off across north India despite restrictions, adding to pollution from stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana.
Off the official scale
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) classifies an AQI above 400 as "severe," and its scale tops out at 500. AQI.in's readings go beyond that cap, so figures like Bathinda's 816 would register simply as "severe" on the official scale. AQI.in uses its own categories, labelling the worst readings "hazardous."
A recurring pattern
India's place at the top of global pollution rankings isn't new. In AQI.in's World Air Quality Report for 2024, 94 of the world's 100 most polluted cities were in India, and New Delhi was the most polluted city in the world that year.