Only clean-fuel buses, app-based cabs and e-commerce fleets to enter Delhi from 2026

New Delhi: The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Wednesday issued new directions that tighten emission norms for a wide range of vehicles entering Delhi, a city that suffers from high levels of air pollution.

According to the World Air Quality Report 2024, published in March by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company, 13 of the world’s top 20 most polluted cities are in India, with Byrnihat in Assam topping the list, followed by Delhi.

From 1 November 2026, only buses running on BS-VI diesel, CNG, or electricity will be allowed into Delhi under service regimes such as contract carriage, school or institutional permits and All India Tourist Permits, as per a government notification issued by the ministry of environment, forest and climate change.

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The mandate will also apply to tourist buses and fleet vehicles operated by app-based cab companies and e-commerce companies. The enforcement for these entities will begin earlier—from 1 January 2026.

The directions, however, will not apply to vehicles registered in Delhi.

The CAQM said the move is necessary as the transport sector continues to be a major source of air pollution in the national capital and across NCR, with the problem becoming worse during winter months.

Buses and commercial fleets running on older, more polluting fuels are among the biggest contributors to toxic emissions, it said.

The new rule builds on earlier orders that had already restricted fuel-use in intercity buses coming to Delhi-NCR from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh. These older directions will continue to remain in force, as per the ministry.

In a separate but related measure, CAQM has made it mandatory for ride-hailing, logistics and e-commerce fleets operating in Delhi-NCR to transition to cleaner fuel options starting 1 January 2026. 

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From that date, only electric or CNG three-wheelers will be allowed to be added to their fleets. No new diesel or petrol-run vehicles—two-wheelers, or four-wheeler light commercial vehicles (up to 3.5 tonnes)—will be permitted for induction, it said.

However, the existing internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles already in service may continue to operate for the time being.

Delhi had already taken the lead on this front by notifying the Motor Vehicle Aggregator and Delivery Service Provider Scheme in 2023. CAQM has now urged other NCR states—Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan—to frame similar policies, especially targeting high vehicle-density cities such as Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat, Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad, where e-commerce and aggregator fleets are a major part of the daily traffic.

A separate ban on the entry of commercial goods vehicles—light, medium or heavy—that do not meet BS-VI, CNG, LNG, or electric norms is already set to kick in from 1 November 2025. These rules too exempt vehicles registered in Delhi.

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To ensure effective enforcement, Delhi’s Transport and Traffic Police departments have been instructed to use technologies like automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and RFID systems at border points. 

State governments in NCR have also been told to develop online monitoring platforms and carry out public awareness campaigns to ensure smooth compliance with the new rules.

Air pollution in Delhi has worsened, with the annual average PM2.5 concentration rising from 102.4 micrograms per cubic meter in 2023 to 108.3 micrograms per cubic meter in 2024.