Startup founders meet in Delhi to discuss solutions to air pollution

About 40 startup founders and business representatives met here on Saturday to discuss problem-focused solutions to tackle Delhi's air pollution, a statement said.

The meeting, held at Central Park here, was attended by representatives from venture capital and private equity firms. Startups working in areas such as mobility, agriculture and air purification shared their approaches and discussed challenges in expanding these interventions, the statement added.

Vishal Lavti, co-founder of carpooling and bike-pooling platform Quick Ride, said private vehicles contribute significantly to the city's pollution levels.

"While long-term solutions like electric vehicles will help, there are simple actions that can be taken immediately. Carpooling is one of the easiest and most effective options as it requires no additional infrastructure, only awareness and participation," he said.

Another entrepreneur, Roshan Shankar of Saroja Earth, said incomplete burning of crop residue remains a major source of air pollution in North India.

"Decentralised utilisation of rice straw as fuel pellets, fertiliser pellets, biochar and cutlery can help prevent stubble burning," said Shankar, who specialises in the study of parali burning.

Ish Anand, a Delhi resident who runs a private equity fund operating in Europe, Singapore and India, said startup founders have the ability to build solutions at scale and said he plans to support some of the ventures discussed at the meeting.

Shradha Sharma, founder of The Bharat Project, which organised the meeting, said the focus is on building capacity over the next 11 months so that the city is better prepared to deal with air pollution next year.

She said some of the ideas will be presented to the city administration to seek support for broader adoption of the initiatives, the statement added.

Similar to winters in the several past years, Delhi continues to choke due to the toxic air, with pollution levels reported above 300 on most days.

On Saturday, the city's air quality deteriorated further, slipping from the "very poor" to the "severe" category -- a level that also affects otherwise healthy individuals -- with readings crossing 400 in the red zone.