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India’s youth-driven start-up ecosystem offers scalable, technology-enabled solutions to tackle the country’s persistent air pollution crisis
With winter having set in, North India once again finds itself on the brink of an air pollution emergency that has become both predictable and persistent. What was once dismissed as a seasonal smog episode has now become a serious public health crisis, particularly for Delhi and the broader National Capital Region (NCR). According to IQAir’s 2024 World Air Quality Report, India’s annual average PM2.5 concentration stood at 50.6 µg/m³—more than ten times the World Health Organization’s recommended limit. Delhi’s situation is far worse, with air quality index levels touching an alarming 999 after Diwali and remaining in the “severe” category throughout October and November 2025.
India ranked as the fifth most polluted country globally in 2024, with 13 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities located within its borders. The public health implications are equally severe. A recent study estimates that nearly 15 percent of all deaths in India in 2023 were linked to air pollution exposure.
India’s youth, through their technical expertise and ability to design and deploy cutting-edge and cost-effective solutions, can help address two of the most persistent constraints in air pollution governance: the lack of scalable and affordable technologies to reduce emissions at source, and the absence of dense, reliable, large-scale air quality monitoring systems.
These figures underscore the need for the government to move beyond episodic emergency responses and adopt a robust, multi-level strategy that can reduce emissions across key polluting sectors—agriculture, industry, thermal power plants, construction, and transportation—while steadily reducing the country’s dependence on fossil fuels. Such a strategy must engage India’s key stakeholders in addressing the crisis.
India’s youth, through their technical expertise and ability to design and deploy cutting-edge and cost-effective solutions, can help address two of the most persistent constraints in air pollution governance: the lack of scalable and affordable technologies to reduce emissions at source, and the absence of dense, reliable, large-scale air quality monitoring systems.
India today hosts the world’s third-largest start-up ecosystem—among the youngest globally, with nearly 72 percent of founders under the age of 35. Surveys of young social entrepreneurs indicate that more than two-thirds are engaged in initiatives addressing climate change and related environmental challenges. This ecosystem—anchored in universities, incubators and early-stage enterprises—represents a critical, yet underleveraged asset in India’s fight against air pollution.
One of the most visible manifestations of this governance gap is stubble burning in North India. In Punjab alone, paddy straw generation rose to 19.52 million tonnes in 2024, with 13.6 million tonnes earmarked for in-situ management. Central government data shows that stubble burning contributed an average of 10.6 percent to Delhi’s PM2.5 levels in 2024, peaking at 35 percent on certain days. While the Punjab and Haryana governments claim reductions of over 90 percent in stubble burning incidents since 2021, recent research by iForest suggests that these figures may significantly understate the problem. The study finds that satellite-based systems often fail to capture open fires across a full 24-hour cycle, creating monitoring blind spots that lead to undervalued emissions, inaccurate particulate concentration estimates, and flawed air quality models.
This disconnect highlights a broader challenge: enforcement and mitigation efforts cannot succeed without credible, real-time data and viable alternatives for farmers. Stubble burning persists not because of a lack of awareness, but because affordable and convenient residue management options remain limited.
With targeted government support—such as assured procurement, buy-back guarantees and innovation-linked grants—such solutions can be rapidly integrated into mainstream mitigation strategies and scaled across states.
India’s start-up ecosystem is beginning to bridge this gap. RY Energies, founded by Delhi University graduates, converts paddy residue into high-quality biomass fuel and supplies it year-round to industrial users, offering farmers a sustainable alternative to open burning. With targeted government support—such as assured procurement, buy-back guarantees and innovation-linked grants—such solutions can be rapidly integrated into mainstream mitigation strategies and scaled across states.
Beyond agriculture, India’s air pollution crisis is deeply intertwined with its fossil fuel–dependent growth model. Coal continues to dominate the power sector, accounting for approximately 70 percent of electricity generation in 2025. Achieving meaningful emissions reductions will require both accelerating renewable energy deployment and improving efficiency across energy-intensive industries. Here again, start-ups are playing a catalytic role in addressing this challenge. IIT Madras–incubated Wankel Energy Systems is developing waste heat recovery devices that convert low- and medium-pressure industrial steam into usable energy, targeting annual energy losses estimated at INR66,000 crore across India’s process industries. Such technologies reduce fuel consumption, lower emissions, and improve industrial competitiveness—aligning environmental objectives with economic incentives.
The second major constraint in India’s air pollution response is limited monitoring capacity. Only about 12 percent of the country’s 4,041 census cities currently have continuous air quality monitoring stations, leaving approximately 47 percent of the population outside reliable surveillance systems. According to the Centre for Science and Environment, cities with populations between 100,000 and one million alone require thousands of additional monitors for pollutants such as PM, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and surface ozone. These gaps create significant blind spots in identifying emission hotspots and assessing local pollution trends.
Start-ups are stepping in with data-driven innovations that can significantly expand monitoring coverage at a lower cost. Ambee, a climate-technology start-up, provides hyper-local, real-time and forecasted air quality data by integrating inputs from government stations, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, and satellite observations. Its analytics enable policymakers, urban planners and governance institutions to map pollution hotspots and anticipate spikes, thereby strengthening decision-making.
Similarly, Respirer has redefined air quality monitoring through its product, Atmos, which deploys sensors in smart bus cabins to measure pollutants such as PM2.5 and carbon monoxide in real time. This context-specific approach enhances both data availability and transparency, informing commuters about in-cabin air quality and fostering public trust.
Promising technologies often stall due to the absence of procurement pathways, institutional support, and sustained public funding.
A significant number of innovations, however, remain confined to pilots and demonstrations. A solar-powered, 5G-enabled air pollution monitoring device designed by IIT Delhi students in 2019, for instance, failed to progress beyond its initial showcase. This reflects a systemic problem: promising technologies often stall due to the absence of procurement pathways, institutional support, and sustained public funding.
Instead of treating start-up innovations as isolated experiments, governments must actively integrate them into formal programmes such as the National Clean Air Programme, Smart Cities Mission, and municipal monitoring frameworks. Institutionalised partnerships between government agencies, research institutions, and start-ups are essential to ensure that grassroots solutions translate into durable governance tools.
Instead of treating start-up innovations as isolated experiments, governments must actively integrate them into formal programmes such as the National Clean Air Programme, Smart Cities Mission, and municipal monitoring frameworks.
The role of India’s start-up ecosystem extends beyond technology deployment. By democratising access to air quality data and improving public awareness, these enterprises strengthen accountability and citizen engagement. SENSurAir Private Limited, incubated at IIT Madras, exemplifies this approach by developing affordable monitoring solutions and novel particulate measurement devices using Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and data analytics, enabling individuals and institutions to make informed decisions.
India’s net-zero commitment for 2070 will not be realised through regulation alone. It will depend on the country’s ability to expand its technological and monitoring capacity at scale. By empowering its start-up ecosystem—particularly in clean energy, sustainable transport and air quality monitoring—India can convert climate ambition into measurable progress and move from crisis management to long-term air quality governance.
Aparna Roy is a Fellow and Lead, Climate Change and Energy, at the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy, Observer Research Foundation.
Sasha Ranjan is a Research Intern at the Observer Research Foundation.
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Aparna Roy is a Fellow and Lead Climate Change and Energy at the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy (CNED). Aparna's primary research focus is on ...
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