Air pollution costs Indian businesses USD 95 billion a year: Study

According to a study released on Thursday, air pollution is costing Indian businesses USD 95 billion every year. This is 3% of the country's Gross Domestic Product. Further, the study says that it cuts annual consumer spending by USD 22 billion. 

Every year, higher pollution levels shave off USD 1.3 billion from the IT sector in lost productivity, said the study by industry group CII; Clean Air Fund, a charity; and consulting firm Dalberg.

If Delhi fails to clean its toxic air, the booming IT sector could lose more than USD 2.5 every year, the study warned. Delhi is the world's most polluted capital, and India is home to 35 of the world's 50 most polluted cities.

Earlier, in 2020 a report issued by Greenpeace Southeast Asia had stated that air pollution in Delhi caused a loss of around 24,000 lives and 5.8% of its GDP in the first half of 2020. 

This was considered to be the highest economic cost of air pollution in terms of GDP across 28 major cities in the world. According to the report based on a new online tool, Delhi lost Rs 26,230 crore over the last six months due to air pollution.

The Greenpeace Southeast Asia/IQAir AirVisual counter applies an algorithm to ground-level air quality data to calculate the projected cost of air pollution due to PM2.5 and NO2, a news agency had reported then.

(With Inputs from Reuters)