Navi Mumbai has seized the title of India's cleanest city. The planned coastal metropolis dislodged Indore after an eight-year dynasty at the summit of the national sanitation leaderboard. Surat took second place, while Vijayawada secured third in the Centre's annual Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 assessment.
President Droupadi Murmu conferred the national honours in New Delhi before delegations representing over 4,700 participating urban local bodies. The contest ran under the banner Swachhata Ki Nayi Pehel - Badhayein Haath, Karein Safai Saath. Indore did not lose its polish—it shifted arenas. Urban administrators carved out a separate tier called the 'Swachh Shehar Jodi' initiative to pair veteran sanitation pioneers with developing municipalities. Paired with Depalpur, Indore took second place in the mentor bracket. Ahmedabad, teamed with Sanand, locked down the category's top prize, while Tirupati partnered with Kuppam to finish third.
Evaluation teams spread out across every state. More than 3,000 trained assessors carried out on-ground audits, tracking waste management systems through real-time GPS monitoring and direct digital evidence logs. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs confirmed that every stage of verification remained fully digital to eliminate municipal tampering.
Size governed the competition brackets. Greater Visakhapatnam outranked all rivals among cities housing more than 10 lakh residents. In the 3 lakh to 10 lakh population band, Ujjain seized top honours.
Medium-sized and smaller towns witnessed fierce contests of their own. Madhya Pradesh's Dewas captured first place in the 50,000-to-3 lakh bracket, while the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Sagar claimed second and third, respectively. In the compact 20,000-to-50,000 resident category, Maharashtra's Vita took the gold, trailed by Aska in Odisha and Goa's capital, Panaji.
| Category | First Place | Second Place | Third Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Cleanest Cities | Navi Mumbai | Surat | Vijayawada |
| Mentor City Pairs | Ahmedabad & Sanand | Indore & Depalpur | Tirupati & Kuppam |
| Population >10 Lakh | Greater Visakhapatnam | — | — |
| Population 3 Lakh–10 Lakh | Ujjain | — |
Geography brought distinct engineering challenges. Rewa topped the cleanest riverfront municipal ranking, edging out Bilaspur and Varanasi. On the coast, Puri clinched first place, with Kerala's Alappuzha taking second and Maharashtra's Ratnagiri finishing third. High-altitude audits in the Himalayan classification saw Rudrapur surge to the front, followed by Jammu and Shopian.
Yet the survey's sharpest gains emerged from peer-to-peer mentoring. Smaller towns attached to seasoned municipal leaders posted steep improvements over the past 12 months. Visible street cleanliness in mentee cities climbed from 48 percent in the 2024-25 cycle to 70 percent in the latest audit. Door-to-door trash collection rose from 52 percent to 74 percent across mentored municipalities.
Mentee cities have also achieved notable improvements across key parameters such as: Source Segregation (from 16 to 30 per cent), Access to Sanitation (from 11 to 38 per cent), Used Water Management (from 32 to 53 per cent), and Advocacy for Swachhata (from 48 to 66 per cent), reflecting strengthened sanitation systems and improved service delivery outcomes through dedicated mentorship from high-performing cities.
Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry
Urban local bodies nationwide now face immediate post-audit reviews, with the Housing Ministry preparing baseline criteria for the upcoming 2026-27 assessment cycle.
| — |
| Population 50,000–3 Lakh | Dewas | NDMC (New Delhi) | Sagar |
| Population 20,000–50,000 | Vita | Aska | Panaji |
| Cleanest Riverfront Town | Rewa | Bilaspur | Varanasi |
| Cleanest Coastal Town | Puri | Alappuzha | Ratnagiri |
| Cleanest Himalayan City | Rudrapur | Jammu | Shopian |