What Is a Safe AQI Level? India's Air Quality Index Chart Explained (2026)

Last updated: 14 September 2026

If you have ever opened a weather app in November, seen "AQI 380" and had no idea whether that means "shut the windows" or "don't leave the house", you are not alone. The number is everywhere in India, but almost nobody explains what the bands actually mean for the air inside your home — which is where most of us spend 80–90% of our time.

This guide breaks down India's AQI chart, what a safe level really is, how the number is calculated, and how to find out what your own rooms are reading rather than what a government station three kilometres away is reading.

What is the Air Quality Index (AQI)?

The Air Quality Index is a single number from 0 to 500 that converts several different pollutants into one score you can read at a glance. Instead of publishing eight separate readings in micrograms per cubic metre, agencies collapse them into one figure and one colour band.

India runs its own scale — the National Air Quality Index (NAQI), launched by the Central Pollution Control Board in 2014. It tracks eight pollutants: PM2.5, PM10, nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulphur dioxide (SO₂), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O₃), ammonia (NH₃) and lead (Pb).

One detail trips people up constantly: the AQI you see is not an average. It is the worst single pollutant sub-index. If PM2.5 scores 310 and everything else scores 60, your AQI is 310. That is why AQI in most Indian cities is effectively a PM2.5 reading in disguise.

India's AQI chart: what each level means

Here is the official CPCB banding, with what it actually means for a normal household:

So what is a safe AQI level?

Safe depends on who is breathing. The honest answer is a range, not a single cutoff:

• Under 50 — safe for absolutely everyone, including infants, pregnant women, older adults and people with asthma or COPD.
• Under 100 — safe for healthy adults going about a normal day. Sensitive groups may notice mild irritation.
• 100–150 — the grey zone. Fine for a short walk, not fine for an hour of outdoor cricket.
• Above 150 — healthy adults begin to register symptoms: scratchy throat, tired eyes, a cough that shows up in the evening.
• Above 300 — no meaningful "safe duration" exists. Minimise exposure.

Worth knowing: the WHO's guideline is stricter than India's. WHO recommends annual PM2.5 stay under 5 µg/m³, while India's national standard allows 40 µg/m³. An AQI of 90 reads as "Satisfactory" on the Indian scale but would still be several times above the WHO guideline. "Satisfactory" means acceptable by national standard, not clean.

How is AQI actually calculated?

Each pollutant is measured over a set averaging window — 24 hours for PM2.5, PM10, SO₂, NO₂ and NH₃; 8 hours for CO and ozone. That concentration is mapped onto a 0–500 sub-index using CPCB breakpoint tables. The highest sub-index across all eight pollutants becomes the reported AQI.

Two practical consequences:

1. AQI lags reality. A 24-hour average will not show you the spike from evening traffic or the neighbour burning leaves at 7pm. Your real-time exposure can be far worse than the published number.
2. Station AQI is not your AQI. Monitoring stations are placed for city-wide averages. A ground-floor flat facing a main road, a kitchen mid-tadka, or a bedroom with a mosquito coil burning can all read dramatically higher than the official figure for your pin code.

Why indoor air is usually the bigger problem

Indians spend the overwhelming majority of their time indoors, and indoor PM2.5 often exceeds outdoor PM2.5. The usual culprits are mundane:

• Cooking — frying and tadka can push kitchen PM2.5 past 300 µg/m³ within minutes, even on LPG.
• Agarbatti, dhoop and mosquito coils — a single coil can emit particulate matter comparable to dozens of cigarettes over a night.
• Outdoor air leaking in — during stubble-burning season, closing windows only helps if you are also filtering.
• CO₂ build-up — not a pollutant in the AQI sense, but a sealed bedroom with two sleepers can cross 1,500 ppm overnight, which is where drowsiness and morning headaches start.
• VOCs — new furniture, paint, room fresheners and cleaning sprays off-gas for weeks.

None of this appears on a weather app. It only appears if you measure the room you are standing in.

How do you check the air quality index at home?

There are three routes, and they answer different questions:

If your goal is deciding whether to go for a run, the apps are enough. If your goal is working out why your child coughs every night, you need a device in the bedroom.

What to look for in an air quality monitor

• PM2.5 and PM10 — PM2.5 drives health risk, PM10 tells you about dust and construction.
• CO₂ sensing — the single best indicator of whether a room is genuinely ventilated.
• VOC / HCHO readings — catches off-gassing from furniture, paint and cleaning products.
• Real-time refresh — a monitor that updates every few seconds shows you cause and effect: light the coil, watch the number climb.
• Portability — the value is in moving it between kitchen, bedroom and car to find the actual source.
• A clear display — if reading it requires opening an app, you will stop checking within a week.

The NEWDRU EcoGuard Pro Smart Air Quality Monitor covers all of the above — live PM2.5, PM10, CO₂ and VOC readings on a single screen, compact enough to move from kitchen counter to bedside to car dashboard.

What to do once you know your number

Measuring is step one; the fixes are refreshingly low-tech:

• Ventilate at the right time. Outdoor AQI is typically worst in the early morning and late evening in winter, and best in the early afternoon. Open windows then, not at 6am.
• Use the kitchen exhaust every single time. Switch it on before you start cooking, not after the smoke appears.
• Swap coils for alternatives. A mosquito net, a plug-in vaporiser or a mosquito killer lamp avoids the particulate load entirely.
• Filter, don't just mask the smell. Air fresheners add VOCs. If you want cleaner air in a confined space, filtration or ionisation is the actual mechanism — our guide on whether ionic air purifiers are safe covers the trade-offs honestly.
• Don't forget the car. Cabin PM2.5 in traffic is routinely worse than the roadside average. A car air purifier is a small fix for a space you sit in daily.

Frequently asked questions

What is a normal AQI level in India?

Across most Indian cities, a typical day falls in the 80–180 range, which is "Satisfactory" to "Moderate". In Delhi-NCR during winter, 300–450 is common for weeks at a time. Coastal and southern cities such as Chennai, Kochi and Bengaluru more often sit between 50 and 100. Normal and safe are not the same thing — normal for much of North India in November is well above the safe threshold.

Is an AQI of 150 dangerous?

AQI 150 sits in the "Moderate" band. It is not an emergency for a healthy adult, but it is not harmless either. People with asthma, allergies, heart conditions, plus young children and older adults, will typically feel it on prolonged exposure. At 150 it is sensible to shorten outdoor exercise, keep windows shut during peak traffic hours and run filtration indoors.

What AQI level is safe for children?

Keep it under 50 where you can, and under 100 as a working ceiling. Children breathe faster relative to body weight and their lungs are still developing, so the same exposure delivers a proportionally larger dose than it would to an adult. Above AQI 150, cut outdoor play time; above 200, move activity indoors with filtration running.

Does AQI measure indoor air quality?

No. Published AQI figures come from outdoor government monitoring stations. Indoor air has its own profile — often higher PM2.5 from cooking and incense, plus CO₂ and VOCs that the outdoor index does not report at all. A dedicated indoor monitor is the only way to measure it.

How can I lower AQI inside my house?

Ventilate during the cleanest part of the day (usually early afternoon), always run the kitchen exhaust while cooking, stop burning coils and incense in closed rooms, keep surfaces dust-free, and run filtration in the rooms where you spend the most hours. Measure before and after so you can tell which change actually moved the number.

Is AQI 50 good?

Yes. AQI 50 is the top of the "Good" band and is safe for every group, including infants and people with respiratory conditions. It is the level worth aiming for indoors, and it is realistically achievable in a filtered, well-ventilated room even when outdoor readings are far higher.

The bottom line

A safe AQI is under 50 for everyone and under 100 for healthy adults — but the number on your phone describes a 24-hour outdoor average from a station you have never visited. The air that matters is the air in your kitchen at 8pm and your bedroom at 3am. Measure that, and the fixes usually turn out to be simpler and cheaper than you expected.