Delhi's air remained in 'severe' category for the sixth consecutive day on Wednesday.
The toxic smog that has enveloped Delhi and neighbouring areas has led to a sudden spike in sales of air purifier makers. Companies say they are receiving queries from Mumbai and some eastern parts of the country, along with Delhi-NCR region, where air quality levels have gone down substantially. Online retailers too have seen an increase in the searches for air purifiers on its platform. One of them, Swiggy Instamart, saw 3,233 per cent increase in searches for the term compared to same time in October.
The company said it has stocked up on air purifiers to deal with the huge increase.
Companies such as Philips, Kent RO, Xiaomi, Daikin and Havells expect a further uptick in demand in the coming days, as they anticipate air quality to be impacted by other reasons as well as from construction activities, along with rising health consciousness among consumers.
"In the past 4-5 days, we have witnessed a 15-20 per cent increase in demand, as people anticipated the need for a solution to combat the polluted air," Mahesh Gupta, CMD of Kent RO Systems Ltd told news agency PTI.
This year has seen an early surge in sales due to a sudden surge in air pollution levels, companies said.
"There has been a strong spike in demand for air purifiers. This week itself we witnessed a 10x increase in sales. With other metros like Mumbai seeing a rise in Air Quality Index (AQI) levels, the category itself has grown 40-50 pc through the year, compared to 2022," said a Xiaomi spokesperson.
Delhi's air quality remained 'severe' for the sixth consecutive day on Wednesday. The city's air quality index stood at 421, worsening from 395 at 4 pm on Tuesday.
In view of air pollution, the December winter break of all schools has been rescheduled and it will be now from November 9 to November 18, a circular of the Delhi Directorate of Education said on Wednesday.
The national capital has been witnessing stringent curbs under Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Under the final stage of the pollution control plan, all kinds of construction work and the entry of polluting trucks into the city have been banned.
Driving old diesel or petrol vehicles and trucks carrying non-essential material in the national capital will attract a fine of Rs 20,000 under the Motor Vehicles Act.