Extreme heat in Delhi: plans, cycles and who is at work

A capital of extreme pre-monsoon heat, street trade and falling groundwater. Heat plan: heat plan in force.

Heat type: Dry heat before the monsoon, then humid heat during it. Dry heat and humid heat, explained.

Heat action plan: Heat plan in force

Delhi launched its 2025 Heat Action Plan in April 2025, with graded heat alerts, cooling shelters, 3,000 water points and heatstroke units in hospitals. Experts have recommended legal backing and dedicated funds to strengthen it.

Sources: Business Today, 2025 · Citizen Matters

Heat today

Live readings and the week’s forecast are on the interactive map. Official warnings: India Meteorological Department. How much climate change shaped today’s heat: Climate Shift Index map, Climate Central.

Vicious cycles the evidence ties to Delhi

The heat credit squeeze

Of 721 Delhi street vendors surveyed in 2024, 80% saw fewer customers in heatwaves and 49% lost income. Source: Greenpeace India and National Hawkers Federation, 2024

Heat empties shops and small firms miss repayments. Banks tighten credit, so firms can’t afford to adapt, and the next heatwave hits harder. Follow it on the map.

The dying-green loop

New Delhi is among the cities where every urban tree species studied is at risk from rising heat. Source: Esperon-Rodriguez et al., Nature Climate Change, 2022

Heat and drought kill city trees. Without their shade the streets get hotter, and hotter streets kill more trees. Follow it on the map.

The groundwater loop

North-west India (Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana) lost 109 km³ of groundwater in six years, mainly to irrigation. Source: Rodell, Velicogna and Famiglietti, Nature, 2009

Dry fields need more water, so farmers pump harder, aquifers fall and the shortage deepens. Follow it on the map.

The invisible-deaths loop

India confirmed 185 heatstroke deaths against 48,385 suspected cases in 2024, up to 28 July. Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, reply in India’s Rajya Sabha, 6 August 2024

Heat deaths go uncounted, so heat protection goes unfunded, so more people die uncounted. Follow it on the map.

Who heat hits hardest here

• Workers in heat-exposed jobs
• People in informal settlements

Heat action plans on file

2 documents for Delhi in the India heat action plan archive, with a link to each PDF.

A worked plan to learn from

Ahmedabad’s heat action plan (Ahmedabad, India, 2013 onwards)

Already at work here

• National Disaster Management Authority, India: Issues national guidance for state and city heat action plans.
• India Meteorological Department and IITM Pune: Issue India’s heatwave forecasts and work with WHO and WMO on the South Asia Climate–Health Desk.
• National Centre for Disease Control, India: Leads heat-health guidance, training and surveillance through India’s National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health.
• Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW): Assessed heat risk in all 734 districts of India in 2025, finding 57% of districts, home to three in four Indians, at high or very high risk. Its 2026 heat-health reports for the GHHIN South Asia hub cover India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan, and it helped Thane build its heat action plan.
• SEEDS: Combines building-level heat risk mapping, community preparedness and affordable cool roofs for vulnerable urban settlements in India.
• HeatWatch India: Focuses on heat and worker protection through research, heat exposure mapping, practical education and a public directory of cooling centres.

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The national picture

Plans and law, warnings, rules for heat at work, cooling, money and other cities in India: the India country snapshot.