Zürcher Nachrichten - Mounting economic costs of India's killer smog

EUR -
AED 3.833114
AFN 76.567491
ALL 99.259156
AMD 416.113834
ANG 1.876383
AOA 951.75484
ARS 1102.422229
AUD 1.658046
AWG 1.878463
AZN 1.77241
BAM 1.962496
BBD 2.102103
BDT 126.4916
BGN 1.956508
BHD 0.393332
BIF 3082.557627
BMD 1.043591
BND 1.409063
BOB 7.193545
BRL 6.019742
BSD 1.041057
BTN 90.414201
BWP 14.410307
BYN 3.407074
BYR 20454.380029
BZD 2.091266
CAD 1.487999
CDF 2995.105789
CHF 0.951025
CLF 0.026012
CLP 998.192852
CNY 7.627658
CNH 7.601745
COP 4348.851656
CRC 526.943418
CUC 1.043591
CUP 27.655157
CVE 110.640926
CZK 25.050315
DJF 185.393466
DKK 7.459066
DOP 64.565872
DZD 141.659649
EGP 52.823958
ERN 15.653862
ETB 133.710299
FJD 2.411373
FKP 0.838686
GBP 0.83527
GEL 2.942647
GGP 0.838686
GHS 16.084419
GIP 0.838686
GMD 74.61865
GNF 8999.69945
GTQ 8.037308
GYD 218.027661
HKD 8.125878
HNL 26.543221
HRK 7.535612
HTG 136.371646
HUF 401.40678
IDR 17067.145132
ILS 3.733248
IMP 0.838686
INR 90.652299
IQD 1363.866694
IRR 43922.136075
ISK 146.603632
JEP 0.838686
JMD 163.936434
JOD 0.740426
JPY 160.901901
KES 134.738025
KGS 91.261942
KHR 4173.741074
KMF 495.235707
KPW 939.325723
KRW 1510.905541
KWD 0.322302
KYD 0.867569
KZT 525.076636
LAK 22636.780841
LBP 93247.90984
LKR 309.318384
LRD 207.695689
LSL 19.197463
LTL 3.081453
LVL 0.631258
LYD 5.129527
MAD 10.412429
MDL 19.609379
MGA 4846.583383
MKD 61.53006
MMK 2190.454189
MNT 3612.026342
MOP 8.352178
MRU 41.449201
MUR 48.589402
MVR 16.069533
MWK 1805.320449
MXN 21.40199
MYR 4.649176
MZN 66.696045
NAD 19.197186
NGN 1569.372692
NIO 38.314403
NOK 11.70635
NPR 144.675041
NZD 1.844208
OMR 0.401795
PAB 1.041052
PEN 3.863483
PGK 4.185623
PHP 60.68011
PKR 290.673695
PLN 4.157828
PYG 8192.069765
QAR 3.795998
RON 4.977196
RSD 117.110727
RUB 98.098587
RWF 1482.522415
SAR 3.914022
SBD 8.815174
SCR 15.242662
SDG 627.198197
SEK 11.284676
SGD 1.406588
SHP 0.859488
SLE 23.790587
SLL 21883.578854
SOS 595.056039
SRD 36.739585
STD 21600.222927
SVC 9.109169
SYP 13569.828152
SZL 19.195773
THB 35.302069
TJS 11.373745
TMT 3.652568
TND 3.31697
TOP 2.444196
TRY 37.687401
TTD 7.063168
TWD 34.204007
TZS 2709.161534
UAH 43.552422
UGX 3829.958033
USD 1.043591
UYU 45.113282
UZS 13523.142074
VES 63.940076
VND 26559.386313
VUV 129.053828
WST 2.961052
XAF 658.231323
XAG 0.032325
XAU 0.000358
XCD 2.820356
XDR 0.797128
XOF 658.206007
XPF 119.331742
YER 258.810603
ZAR 19.264217
ZMK 9393.568829
ZMW 29.124795
ZWL 336.035818
  • RBGPF

    64.0100

    64.01

    +100%

  • SCS

    -0.0500

    11.93

    -0.42%

  • BCC

    -4.6000

    118.72

    -3.87%

  • RIO

    0.3900

    62.04

    +0.63%

  • CMSC

    -0.1800

    23.28

    -0.77%

  • RELX

    0.1100

    51.44

    +0.21%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    7.69

    +0.26%

  • NGG

    -0.9000

    60.58

    -1.49%

  • GSK

    0.0600

    36.13

    +0.17%

  • BTI

    0.2200

    42.74

    +0.51%

  • BCE

    0.3800

    23.26

    +1.63%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    12.85

    -0.16%

  • AZN

    1.7000

    74.43

    +2.28%

  • CMSD

    -0.1800

    23.71

    -0.76%

  • BP

    0.1300

    34.68

    +0.37%

  • VOD

    0.0900

    8.59

    +1.05%

Mounting economic costs of India's killer smog
Mounting economic costs of India's killer smog / Photo: Money SHARMA - AFP

Mounting economic costs of India's killer smog

Noxious smog smothering the plains of north India is not only choking the lungs of residents and killing millions, but also slowing the country's economic growth.

Text size:

India's capital New Delhi frequently ranks among the world's most polluted cities. Each winter, vehicle and factory emissions couple with farm fires from surrounding states to blanket the city in a dystopian haze.

Acrid smog this month contains more than 50 times the World Health Organization recommended limit of fine particulate matter -- dangerous cancer-causing microparticles known as PM2.5 pollutants, that enter the bloodstream through the lungs.

Experts say India's worsening air pollution is having a ruinous impact on its economy -- with one study estimating losses to the tune of $95 billion annually, or roughly three percent of the country's GDP.

The true extent of the economic price India is paying could be even greater.

"The externality costs are huge and you can't assign a value to it," said Vibhuti Garg, of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

Bhargav Krishna of the Delhi-based research collective Sustainable Futures Collaborative said "costs add up in every phase".

"From missing a day at work to developing chronic illness, the health costs associated with that, to premature death and the impact that has on the family of the person," Krishna told AFP.

- 'Health and wealth hazard'-

Still, several studies have tried to quantify the damage.

One by the global consultancy firm Dalberg concluded that in 2019, air pollution cost Indian businesses $95 billion due to "reduced productivity, work absences and premature death".

The amount is nearly three percent of India's budget, and roughly twice its annual public health expenditure.

"India lost 3.8 billion working days in 2019, costing $44 billion to air pollution caused by deaths," according to the study which calculated that toxic air "contributes to 18 percent of all deaths in India".

Pollution has also had a debilitating impact on the consumer economy because of direct health-related eventualities, the study said, reducing footfall and causing annual losses of $22 billion.

The numbers are even more staggering for Delhi, the epicentre of the crisis, with the capital province losing as much as six percent of its GDP annually to air pollution.

Restaurateur Sandeep Anand Goyle called the smog a "health and wealth hazard".

"People who are health conscious avoid stepping out so we suffer," said Goyle, who heads the Delhi chapter of the National Restaurant Association of India.

Tourism has also been impacted, as the smog season coincides with the period when foreigners traditionally visit northern India -- too hot for many during the blisteringly hot summers.

"The smog is giving a bad name to India's image," said Rajiv Mehra of the Indian Association of Tour Operators.

Delhi faces an average 275 days of unhealthy air a year, according to monitors.

- 'Premature deaths' -

Piecemeal initiatives by the government -- -- that critics call half-hearted -- have failed to adequately address the problem.

Academic research indicates that its detrimental impact on the Indian economy is adding up.

A 2023 World Bank paper said that air pollution's "micro-level" impacts on the economy translate to "macro-level effects that can be observed in year-to-year changes in GDP".

The paper estimates that India's GDP would have been 4.5 percent higher at the end of 2023, had the country managed to curb pollution by half in the previous 25 years.

Another study published in the Lancet health journal on the direct health impacts of air pollution in 2019 estimated an annual GDP deceleration of 1.36 percent due to "lost output from premature deaths and morbidity".

Desperate emergency curbs -- such as shuttering schools to reduce traffic emissions as well as banning construction -- come with their own economic costs.

"Stopping work for weeks on end every winter makes our schedules go awry, and we end up overshooting budgets," said Sanjeev Bansal, the chairman of the Delhi unit of the Builders Association of India.

Pollution's impact on the Indian economy is likely to get worse if action is not taken.

With India's median age expected to rise to 32 by 2030, the Dalberg study predicts that "susceptibility to air pollution will increase, as will the impact on mortality".

W.Odermatt--NZN