This is India’s Cleanest City in 2026, Beats Indore’s 8-yr Streak: Check Swachh Survekshan Awards Full Winners; Why These Cities Also Have Pollution?

Navi Mumbai has been termed as India's cleanest city in the Swachh Survekshan 2025-26, thus finishing Indore's eight-year stint as the most cleanest city in the national cleanliness rankings. The results were declared at an awards ceremony in New Delhi, where President Droupadi Murmu awarded the honours on November 11.

According to the latest rankings, Surat in Gujarat won second spot, while Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh came third. The rankings recognised urban local bodies for cleanliness, sanitation and waste management. More than 4,700 urban local bodies participated in this year's review across India's swiftly evolving urban landscape.

Indore, which had earlier held the cleanest-city title for eight consecutive years, was listed in a newly unveiled Mentor City category. It secured second spot alongside its partner town, Depalpur, under the Swachh Shehar Jodi initiative. Ahmedabad and Sanand topped this category, while Tirupati and Kuppam occupied third spot.

Other Winners in Cities with Cleanliness List

The survey also declared winners across population-based and geographical categories. Greater Visakhapatnam was recognised among cities with populations above 10 lakh, while Ujjain lead the list for cities with populations between three lakh and 10 lakh. In the smaller-city section, Dewas topped the 50,000-to-three-lakh population category, succeeded by the New Delhi Municipal Council and Sagar.

Meanwhile, Rewa in Madhya Pradesh was awarded the cleanest riverfront town title. Bilaspur and Varanasi gained second and third spots. In the coastal-town category, Odisha's Puri came first, followed by Alappuzha in Kerala and Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. Rudrapur in Uttarakhand surfaced as the cleanest Himalayan city, with Jammu and Shopian securing the next two positions.

Top 3 cleanest cities in India in 2026

Cleanest cities by population category

Cleanest cities by geographical category

How were the India’s cleanest cities decided?

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs stated that more than 3,000 trained assessors conducted evaluations, promoted by real-time GPS-enabled monitoring. Evidence submission and verification were executed digitally and included quality checks, the ministry said.

This year's theme was 'Swachhata Ki Nayi Pehel – Badhayein Haath, Karein Safai Saath'. The ministry also recorded spurs among cities in the mentorship programme. Visible cleanliness grew from 48 per cent in the earlier survey to 70 per cent. Door-to-door waste collection grew from 52 per cent to 74 per cent, while source segregation enhanced from 16 per cent to 30 per cent.

Why Cleanest Cities also have High Air pollution?

India's cleanest city in 2026, Navi Mumbai, actually sees moderately to heavily polluted air in India rather than having the cleanest air in the country. This contrast is present because the Swachh Survekshan survey—which regarded Navi Mumbai the cleanest city—only reviews street sweeping, waste management, and public sanitation, not air quality. Due to massive construction dust, vehicular traffic, and proximity to Mumbai, Navi Mumbai's Air Quality Index (AQI) commonly crosses severe winter levels and only elevates during the monsoon months. In contrast, the cleanest actual air in India is reported in smaller, greener cities like Aizawl and Rishikesh, while Lucknow dominated the 2026 Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan for anti-pollution bid.