By Hemant SharmaSwacch Bharat Mission of the Government of India is a campaign to promote cleanliness and sanitation across cities, towns and villages across India. As a part of this campaign, the GOI conducts a cleanliness survey which ranks cities based on various standards like cleanliness, waste management, proactive actions by the civic authorities, awareness among the populace towards cleanliness and more. The purpose of this exercise is to promote a spirit of healthy competition among cities. Rankings are given on the basis of scores awarded to the cities. While some cities are consistently maintaining their high scores and featuring among the top cities, many other cities have improved their scores over the years. Let’s have a look at the top 10 cleanest cities in India for the year 2025.
1 Indore
Indore, a major industrial city in the state of Madhya Pradesh, has been consistently maintaining its position as the most clean city in India for the past 6 years. The city is known for its innovative waste management techniques like segregating wet and dry waste and processing in plants which have contributed in maintaining the highest standards of cleanliness.
Some other reasons behind the best cleanliness standards in Indore are efficient door-to-door waste collection, community participation in cleanliness drives and awareness programs and a proactive civic body. Indore is also the first water surplus city in India.
2. Surat
Surat, a major commercial hub in the state of Gujarat, is not only known for its diamond cutting and polishing, and textile industry but also for its high cleanliness standards. The city has a robust waste management system, efficient sanitation practices and active community participation in cleanliness and sanitation drives. Surat municipal corporation operates an integrated command and control centre to monitor cleanliness in the city and detect aberrations like open drains and garbage piles.
Surat cityscape is completely devoid of open drains and features clean roads lined with trees and flowering plants, and traditional murals and frescoes.
3. Navi Mumbai
Navi Mumbai, a satellite city of Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra, is not only known for its well-developed infrastructure but also for its high standards of cleanliness and sanitation. The city is equipped with multiple sewage treatment and tertiary treatment plants which have earned it the designation of ‘Water Plus City’. Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation employs mechanical cleaning to clean the sewer drains and septic tanks which has not only maximised efficiency but also protects the sanitation workers.
Navi Mumbai has also been declared a ‘garbage-free city’. The city has numerous smart waste bins for swift and easy waste collection.
4. Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam, a coastal city in the state of Andhra Pradesh, is among the top cities in India, in terms of cleanliness. The city has mainly focused on five aspects for a clean and healthy environment which are effective waste management, urban greenery and community gardening, rainwater harvesting and clean beaches, pollution control and recycling to reduce plastic pollution.
Both the local authorities and residents of Visakhapatnam actively participate in cleanliness drives and other similar campaigns. The city also has upgraded its public toilets and waste disposal mechanisms.
5. Bhopal
Bhopal, the capital city of the state of Madhya Pradesh, is among the cleanest cities in India on the back of its efficient and effective waste management and sanitation. The municipal corporation of the city focuses on multiple initiatives like scientific disposal of waste, recycling C&D waste, CNG waste collection vehicles and reduce/reuse/recycling campaigns.
Bhopal is serviced by over 200 road sweeping waste collection vehicles for routine cleaning and over 450 door-to-door garbage collection vehicles.
6. Vijayawada
Vijayawada, a major city in the state of Andhra Pradesh, features among the top cleanest cities on the back of its 4000 sanitation workers and 300 wet waste workers. The city processes around 520 tonnes of waste per day. Vijayawada Municipal Corporation operates six vermicompost plants, four windrow compost plants, and a domestic hazardous and sanitary waste plant.
Vijayawada has three reduce/reuse/recycle centres where plastic and other waste products are recycled and converted into multiple items like handbags, tables, chairs and more.
7. New Delhi
New Delhi, more specifically the area under New Delhi Municipal Corporation, is among the most clean cities in India with distinctions like ‘Garbage-free City’ and ‘Water Plus Certified City’. NDMC scores high on a variety of parameters, such as door-to-door collection of waste, source segregation of waste, waste processing, cleanliness of public toilets and water bodies, remediation of dump sites and cleanliness of residential and market areas.
NDMC also manages liquid waste efficiently through 35 sewage treatment plants which process 100% sewage and wastewater
8. Tirupati
Temple town of Tirupati in the state of Andhra Pradesh figures among the cleanest cities in India with both ‘Garbage Free City’ and ‘Water Plus’ ratings to its credit. The city generates a lot of dry waste, wet waste, construction waste and plastic waste which are processed at multiple facilities. Tirupati Municipal Corporation has achieved 100% door-to-door waste collection and uses an online waste management system to track waste collection in real time.
9. Mysore
Mysore, a culturally rich city in the state of Karnataka, is widely known for its clean roads, streets and public spaces. The city particularly scores high in solid waste management, wastewater treatment, septage management and drinking water quality. Mysore also has an effective garbage collection and processing system which fosters high levels of cleanliness. Furthermore, the twin bin system implemented by the MCC for segregating dry and wet waste at the source level is yielding positive results for the city.
10. Khargone
Khargone is a city in Madhya Pradesh which is among the cleanest cities in India on the back of its effective waste management system. The municipal corporation of this city processes 47.29 metric tonnes of waste every day. Highly efficient door-to-door waste collection system and community participation in sanitation programs contribute greatly to the cleanliness of the city.
Conclusion
Efficient waste management, eco-friendly initiatives like recycling programs and active participation of both the municipal authorities and the general public in such programs are the key factors in maintaining high standards of cleanliness. Cities lagging behind in cleanliness are also striving hard to improve their rankings.