Mounting economic costs of India’s killer smog

NEW DELHI: 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.

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 Organisation 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 said.