Delhi air still in 'severe' category despite rains lashing parts of capital

The Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital was at 433 --'severe'-- at 8 am, according to SAFAR

Delhi air remained severely polluted on Monday morning, even after rain lashed parts of the national capital on Sunday evening.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital was at 433 --'severe'-- at 8 am, according to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality forecast agency SAFAR. Readings below 50 are considered safe, while anything above 300 is considered hazardous or 'severe'.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted light spells of rain in the national capital from December 26 to 29, which is expected to further lower the temperature in Delhi with hopes of it bringing down the pollution levels in the state.

Delhi's air quality in November was the worst in seven years, data showed. The air became worse after Diwali on November 4 as people violated a ban on bursting firecrackers while the pollution compounded due to an increase in stubble burning by farmers in areas adjoining the national capital.

Delhi this morning was the world's fifth most polluted city with an AQI of 190, said IQAir, a website that tracks air quality worldwide. Kolkata was the only other Indian city on the list at the ninth spot with an AQI of 170 respectively.

Preliminary data from a month-long experiment has shown that indoor air pollution levels were nearly half of the outdoor levels in Delhi-NCR during November-December so far.

Air pollution costs Indian businesses $95 billion or roughly 3 per cent of its GDP every year, according to U.K.-based non-profit Clean Air Fund and the Confederation of Indian Industry, Bloomberg has reported.