Navi Mumbai, in Maharashtra, has been named India's cleanest city in the Centre's annual cleanliness survey, Swachh Survekshan 2025-26.
The results were announced on Wednesday, November 11, at an award ceremony in New Delhi.
President Droupadi Murmu gave the awards to the winning cities.
Surat in Gujarat came second. Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh came third.
Key points
- Navi Mumbai ranked first in Swachh Survekshan 2025-26.
- Surat came second and Vijayawada came third.
- Indore, the top city for eight years, now ranks second in a new category.
- The survey covered more than 4,700 urban local bodies.
So why did Indore lose the top spot?
Indore had been the cleanest city for eight years in a row. This year, it was placed in a different category.
It came second in the newly introduced Swachh Shehar Jodi category. It shares that place with its partner town, Depalpur.
This category pairs better-performing cities with smaller towns.
The stronger cities guide the smaller ones on waste management and sanitation.
In this category, Ahmedabad and its partner town, Sanand, took the top spot.
How does the survey judge a city's cleanliness?
This was the 10th edition of the survey. Cities were assessed on 43 indicators across 10 major areas.
These areas include door-to-door garbage collection, waste segregation, and cleanliness of public places.
They also cover toilets, wastewater management, and facilities for sanitation workers.
More than 3,000 trained assessors visited cities across the country. GPS-based monitoring was used during field inspections.
Graphic: News Anek, from the facts in this report
Documents and other evidence were checked online.
What does this mean for people living in cities?
If you live in a city, these rankings look at things you notice every day.
Garbage pickup at your doorstep, clean streets, and usable toilets are all part of the check.
The ministry said more than 350 urban local bodies improved their rankings by over 500 positions through the mentoring programme.
The survey began in 2016, when only 73 urban local bodies took part.
Sources
- India.com: Navi Mumbai beats Indore to become India’s cleanest city, Check full list of Swachh Survekshan winners
- Mathrubhumi English: Navi Mumbai is India's cleanest city; Indore moves to new category in Swachh Survekshan
- The New Indian Express: Navi Mumbai leads Centre’s cleanliness rankings as Indore exits top city category
