Delhi pollution crisis draws startup founders, investors to problem-solving meet

About 40 startup founders and business representatives met in Delhi on Saturday to discuss problem-focused and scalable solutions to tackle the capital’s worsening air pollution, according to a statement.

The meeting, held at Central Park, brought together founders working across sectors such as mobility, agriculture and air purification, along with representatives from venture capital and private equity firms. Participants shared their approaches and discussed challenges in scaling these interventions to city-wide levels, the statement said.

Vishal Lavti, co-founder of carpooling and bike-pooling platform Quick Ride, said private vehicles are a major contributor to Delhi’s pollution.

“While long-term solutions like electric vehicles will help, there are simple actions that can be taken immediately. Carpooling is one of the easiest and most effective options as it requires no additional infrastructure, only awareness and participation,” he said.

Roshan Shankar of Saroja Earth said incomplete burning of crop residue continues to be a major source of air pollution in North India.

“Decentralised utilisation of rice straw as fuel pellets, fertiliser pellets, biochar and cutlery can help prevent stubble burning,” said Shankar, who specialises in the study of parali burning.

Ish Anand, a Delhi resident who runs a private equity fund operating in Europe, Singapore and India, said startup founders have the ability to build solutions at scale and added that he plans to support some of the ventures discussed at the meeting.

Shradha Sharma, founder of The Bharat Project, which organised the meeting, said the focus is on building capacity over the next 11 months so that the city is better prepared to deal with air pollution next year.

She said some of the ideas would be presented to the city administration to seek support for broader adoption of the initiatives.

As in several past winters, Delhi continues to choke under toxic air, with pollution levels reported above 300 on most days.

On Saturday, air quality deteriorated further, slipping from the “very poor” to the “severe” category — a level that also affects otherwise healthy individuals — with readings crossing 400 in the red zone.