Delhi

{{Short description|Megacity and union territory of India}} {{Hatnote group| {{Redirect|National Capital Territory|the generic term|Capital districts and territories}} {{Other uses}} }} {{Pp-semi-indef}} {{Use Indian English|date=May 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Delhi | official_name = National Capital Territory of Delhi | native_name = ''Dillī'' | other_name = | image_blank_emblem = | blank_emblem_type = | settlement_type = Megacity and union territory | image_skyline = {{multiple image | border = infobox | align = center | total_width = 250 | image_style = | perrow = 1/2/2/2 | image1 = Tomb of Humayun, Delhi.jpg | alt1 = | image2 = Qutb minar ruins.jpg | alt2 = | image3 = Jama Masjid 2011.jpg | alt3 = | image4 = Red Fort in Delhi 03-2016 img3.jpg | alt4 = | image5 = India Gate 2014-11-01.jpg | alt5 = | image6 = Digambar Jain Lal Mandir, Chandni Chowk, Delhi.jpg | alt6 = | image7 = St. James Church 9.jpg | alt7 = | image8 = Hyderabad house US Sec Def highest intensity.jpg | alt8 = | image9 = Lotus Temple in New Delhi 03-2016.jpg | alt9 = }} | image_caption = From top, left to right: Humayun's Tomb; Qutub Minar; Jama Masjid; Red Fort's Lahori gate; India Gate; Digambar Jain Mandir with Gauri Shankar temple in the background; St. James' Church; Hyderabad House; Lotus Temple, a Baháʼí House of Worship | image_size = | mapframe = no | mapframe-zoom = 8 | mapframe-marker = city | coordinates = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{flag|India}} | established_title = Capital, Delhi Sultanate | established_date = 1214 | established_title1 = Capital, Mughal Empire | established_date1 = 1526, intermittently with Agra | established_title2 = New Delhi, capital, British Indian Empire | established_date2 = 12 December 1911 | established_title3 = New Delhi, capital, Republic of India | established_date3 = 26 January 1950 | established_title4 = Union Territory<ref name="7thAmend56" /><ref name="ReorgAct56" /> | established_date4 = 1 November 1956 | established_title5 = National Capital Territory<ref name=NCTact /> | established_date5 = 1 February 1992 | subdivision_type2 = Region | subdivision_name2 = North India <!--| seat_type = Capital | seat = New Delhi | parts_type = Districts | parts_style = para | p1 = 11-->| governing_body = {{Wdib|P797|fwd=ALL|osd=no|noicon=1}} | leader_title = Lieutenant Governor | leader_name = Taranjit Singh Sandhu | leader_title1 = {{nowrap|Chief Minister}} | leader_name1 = Rekha Gupta (BJP) | leader_title3 = Legislature | leader_name3 = Unicameral (70 seats) | area_total_km2 = 1484 | area_total_sq_mi = 573 | area_footnotes = <ref name='Delhi Info'>{{cite web|title=Delhi Info|url=https://unccdcop14india.gov.in/about-delhi|website=unccdcop14india.gov.in|access-date=24 November 2020|archive-date=29 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129201811/https://unccdcop14india.gov.in/about-delhi|url-status=dead}}</ref> | area_water_sq_mi = 6.9 <!--| area_rank = 32nd-->| area_metro_km2 = 3483 | area_metro_footnotes = <ref name="metroarea">{{cite web |title=Study on counter magnet areas to Delhi & NCR |url=http://ncrpb.nic.in/pdf_files/04_Chapter1_cma.pdf |website=National Capital Region Planning Board|page=2}}</ref>{{efn|Combined area figures of 1,483 sq km for "NCT Delhi" and 2000 sq km for "Central National Capital Region"/ CNCR (formerly designated "Delhi Metropolitan Area"/ DMA) comprising adjoining satellite cities of Delhi located in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh<ref name="metroarea"/><ref name="DMA towns">{{cite web |date=September 2007 |title=Evaluation Study of DMA Towns in National Capital Region |url=http://tcpomud.gov.in/divisions/mutp/dma/final_dma_report.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320052724/http://tcpomud.gov.in/divisions/mutp/dma/final_dma_report.pdf |archive-date=20 March 2017 |access-date=19 March 2017 |website=Town and Country Planning Organisation |publisher=Ministry of Urban Development}}</ref>}} | elevation_m = 200–250 | elevation_ft = 650–820 <!-- Population, demographics -->| population_footnotes = <ref name="2011 census Delhi" /> | population_total = 16,787,941 | population_rank = 2nd in India<br/>7th in Asia | population_as_of = 2011 | population_density_km2 = auto | population_density_sq_mi = 29,298 | population_est = 21588000 | population_urban_footnotes = <ref name="delhi2011" /> | pop_est_as_of = 2024 | pop_est_footnotes = <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://delhiplanning.delhi.gov.in/sites/default/files/Planning/tables.pdf |title=Economic Survey of Delhi, 2023-24 - Tables |publisher= Planning Department Government of NCT of Delhi |access-date=6 December 2024 |archive-date=30 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240930092557/https://delhiplanning.delhi.gov.in/sites/default/files/Planning/tables.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> | population_urban = 16,349,831<!--These figures are for core UA of Delhi city as defined by Census of India which is located within the boundaries of Delhi NCT only--> (2nd) | population_blank1_footnotes = <ref name="2011 census Delhi" /> | population_blank1_title = Megacity | population_blank1 = 11,034,555<!--These figures are for the city proper of Delhi lying within the administrative limits of Delhi Municipal Cofporation as of 2011--> (2nd) | population_blank2_footnotes = <ref name="UNcities2018"/> | population_blank2_title = Metro (2018) | population_blank2 = 28514000<!--These figures are for Extended UA of Delhi including Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Noida.--> (1st) <!--| population_demonym = Delhiite-->| demographics_type1 = Languages | demographics1_title1 = Official | demographics1_info1 = {{hlist|Hindi|English<ref name="OLA 2000">{{cite web|url=https://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/d09fd2004bd07ad9a305ab56803943f0/Delhi+Official+Languages+Act+2000.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&lmod=-344844204|title=Official Language Act 2000|date=2 July 2003|publisher=Government of Delhi|access-date=17 July 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084459/https://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/d09fd2004bd07ad9a305ab56803943f0/Delhi+Official+Languages+Act+2000.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&lmod=-344844204|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> }} | demographics1_title2 = Additional&nbsp;official | demographics1_info2 = {{hlist| Punjabi|Urdu<ref name="OLA 2000" /> }} | demographics1_title3 = Regional | demographics1_info3 = {{hlist|Haryanvi<ref>{{cite web |title=Sociolinguistic Survey of Haryanvi |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/39/32/25/39322561837182664281680018892812535354/JLSR2024_011.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Haryanvi Language |url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/haryanvi.htm}}</ref> |Khariboli<ref>{{cite web |title=Hindi language variation |url=http://lisindia.ciil.org/Hindi/Hindi_vari.html}}</ref>}} | demographics_type2 = GDP {{nobold|(2023–24)}} | demographics2_footnotes = <ref name="NSDP">{{cite web|url=https://delhiplanning.delhi.gov.in/sites/default/files/Planning/economic_survey_of_delhi_2023-24_english.pdf|title=ECONOMIC SURVEY OF DELHI 2023 – 24|website=delhiplanning.delhi.gov.in|access-date=15 August 2024|archive-date=30 September 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240930092641/https://delhiplanning.delhi.gov.in/sites/default/files/Planning/economic_survey_of_delhi_2023-24_english.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> | demographics2_title1 = Megacity and union territory (Nominal) | demographics2_info1 = {{INRConvert|1107746|c|=r}}<ref name="NSDP"/> | demographics2_title2 = Per Capita NSDP | demographics2_info2 = {{INRConvert|461910|lk=r}}<ref name="NSDP"/> | demographics2_title3 = Metro (Nominal) | demographics2_info3 = $273&nbsp;billion<ref>{{Cite web|title=Global Wealth GDP Nominal Distribution: Who Are The Leaders Of The Global Economy? – Full Size|url=https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Global-Wealth-Distribution.html|website=www.visualcapitalist.com|access-date=30 March 2025}}</ref> | demographics2_title4 = PPP | demographics2_info4 = $521.5&nbsp;billion<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.c40.org/cities/delhi-nct/|title=Delhi NCT, India|website=C40 Cities|access-date=25 March 2024|archive-date=14 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314094341/https://www.c40.org/cities/delhi-nct/|url-status=live}}</ref> | blank_name_sec2 = HDI {{nobold|(2018)}} | blank_info_sec2 = {{nowrap|{{increase}} 0.839<ref name="snhdi-gdl">{{cite web |title=Gendering Human Development |url=https://mospi.gov.in/documents/213904/301563//Report%20on%20Gendering%20Human%20Development%20(1)1617270984176.pdf/ab88fd0a-d5ee-77f9-a493-4238dfb3838c#page=52 |access-date=27 January 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326022758/https://mospi.gov.in/documents/213904/301563//Report%20on%20Gendering%20Human%20Development%20%281%291617270984176.pdf/ab88fd0a-d5ee-77f9-a493-4238dfb3838c#page=52 |url-status=live }}</ref> ({{color|darkgreen|Very High}})}} · 1st <!-- blank fields (section 1) -->| blank1_name_sec2 = Literacy {{nobold|(2011)}} | blank1_info_sec2 = 86.21%<ref name="pc-census2011">{{cite web |title=Census 2011 (Final Data) – Demographic details, Literate Population (Total, Rural & Urban) |url=https://planningcommission.gov.in/data/datatable/data_2312/DatabookDec2014%20307.pdf |website=planningcommission.gov.in |publisher=Planning Commission, Government of India |access-date=3 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127163347/https://planningcommission.gov.in/data/datatable/data_2312/DatabookDec2014%20307.pdf |archive-date=27 January 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | blank2_name_sec2 = Sex ratio {{nobold|(2011)}} | blank2_info_sec2 = 868 ♀/1000 ♂<ref name="pc-census2011" /> | timezone = IST | utc_offset = +5.30 | postal_code_type = PINs<ref name=pin>{{cite web | url = https://www.indiapost.gov.in/vas/pages/FindPinCode.aspx | title = Find Pin Code | work = Department of Posts | access-date = 5 June 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190603225933/https://www.indiapost.gov.in/vas/pages/findpincode.aspx | archive-date = 3 June 2019 | url-status = live }}</ref> | postal_code = 110000{{ndash}}110099 | area_code = +91 11 | iso_code = IN-DL | registration_plate = DL | website = {{URL|https://delhi.gov.in/}} | blank3_info_sec1 = Indira Gandhi International Airport | blank3_name_sec1 = International Airport | blank4_info_sec1 = Delhi Metro | blank4_name_sec1 = Rapid Transit | native_name_lang = hi }}

'''Delhi''',{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɛ|l|i}}; {{IPA|hi|ˈdɪlːiː}} ''dillī'', occasionally {{IPA|hi|ˈdeːɦliː|}} ''dehlī''; {{IPA|pa|ˈdɪlːiː}} ''dillī''; {{IPA|ur|ˈdeɦliː}} ''dêhlī'', informally {{IPA|ur|ˈdɪlːiː|}} ''dillī''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Platts|first=John Thompson|title=A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1960|isbn=0-19-864309-8|location=London|pages=546|oclc=3201841|author-link=John Thompson Platts|orig-year=First published 1884}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Constitution (Sixty-Ninth Amendment) Act, 1991|url=https://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend69.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821020032/https://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend69.htm|archive-date=21 August 2016|access-date=23 November 2014|publisher=Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India}}</ref><ref name="habib, Royal, karamchandani, National">{{Cite book |title=The agrarian system of Mughal India, 1556–1707 |last=Habib |first=Irfan |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-562329-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ymFAAAAIAAJ |quote=The current Survey of India spellings are followed for place names except where they vary rather noticeably from the spellings in our sources: thus I read 'Dehli' not 'Delhi&nbsp;... |year=1999 |access-date=6 November 2015 |archive-date=1 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101225812/https://books.google.com/books?id=0ymFAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }} *{{Cite book|title=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland|author=Royal Asiatic Society|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mtosAAAAIAAJ|quote=also Dehli or Dilli, not Delhi&nbsp;...|year=1834|access-date=6 November 2015|archive-date=25 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225121640/https://books.google.com/books?id=mtosAAAAIAAJ|url-status=live}} *{{Cite book|title=India, the beautiful|first=L.T|last=Karamchandani|publisher=Sita Publication|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sHWfveQGksC|quote=According to available evidence the present Delhi, spelt in Hindustani as Dehli or Dilli, derived its name from King&nbsp;...|year=1968|access-date=6 November 2015|archive-date=25 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225121703/https://books.google.com/books?id=_sHWfveQGksC|url-status=live}} *{{Cite book|title=The National geographical journal of India, Volume 40|publisher=National Geographical Society of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aqqAAAAAMAAJ|quote=The name which remained the most popular is 'Dilli' with variation in its pronunciation as Dilli, Dehli, or Delhi|year=1994|access-date=6 November 2015|archive-date=25 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225121639/https://books.google.com/books?id=aqqAAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>}} officially the '''National Capital Territory''' ('''NCT''') '''of Delhi''', is a megacity and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its right bank, Delhi shares borders with the state of Uttar Pradesh in the east and with the state of Haryana in the remaining directions. Delhi became a union territory on 1 November 1956 and the NCT in 1995.<ref name=statesmans-yb-2023-delhi-area-pop>{{citation|page=589|editor-last=Springer Nature Limited|title=The Statesman's Yearbook 2023: The Politics, Cultures, and Economies of the World|location=London|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2022|isbn=978-1-349-96055-2|quote=Delhi became a Union Territory on 1 Nov. 1956 and was designated the National Capital Territory in 1995. Delhi has an area of 1,483 sq. km. Its population (2011 census) is 16,787,941.}}</ref> The NCT covers an area of {{convert|1484|km2}}.<ref name="Delhi Info" /> According to the 2011 census, Delhi's city proper population was over 11&nbsp;million,<ref name="2011 census Delhi">{{Cite web|date=2011|title=Census of India: Provisional Population Totals Paper 1 of 2011, NCT of Delhi|url=https://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/prov_data_products_delhi.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119042828/https://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/prov_data_products_delhi.html |archive-date=19 January 2022|access-date=12 February 2022|website=Census of India}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/896594/this-study-settles-the-delhi-versus-mumbai-debate-the-capitals-economy-is-streets-ahead|title=This study settles the Delhi versus Mumbai debate: The Capital's economy is streets ahead|date=2 October 2018 |access-date=21 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221134658/https://scroll.in/article/896594/this-study-settles-the-delhi-versus-mumbai-debate-the-capitals-economy-is-streets-ahead|archive-date=21 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> while the NCT's population was about 16.8&nbsp;million.<ref name="delhi2011">{{cite web|url=https://www.citypopulation.de/India-Delhi.html?cityid=2925|title=Delhi (India): Union Territory, Major Agglomerations & Towns – Population Statistics in Maps and Charts|work=City Population|access-date=28 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302112054/https://www.citypopulation.de/India-Delhi.html?cityid=2925|archive-date=2 March 2017}}</ref>

The topography of the medieval fort Purana Qila on the banks of the river Yamuna matches the literary description of the citadel Indraprastha in the Sanskrit epic ''Mahabharata''; however, excavations in the area have revealed no signs of an ancient built environment.<ref name=sunil-kumar2>{{citation|last=Kumar|first=Sunil|chapter=Delhi|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought |editor1-last = Bowering|editor1-first =Gerhard| editor2-last =Crone|editor2-first= Patricia|editor3-last=Mirza|editor3-first=Mahan|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn= 9780691134840 |year=2013 | page = 127| quote= (page 126) Although the ancient history of Delhi is always linked with Indraprastha, the capital of the Pandawas in the Mahabharata epic, (ca. 1500&ndash;1000 BCE), no archaeological trace of the city has been discovered. Instead a variety of smaller settlements attest to the occupation of the area from the fifth century BCE without leading to full scale urbanization until at the earliest, the 11th and 12th centuries CE, when the Tomara and Chawhan chieftains established their relatively humble headquarters in the southern reaches of the Delhi plain.}}</ref> From the early 13th century until the mid-19th century, Delhi was the capital of two major empires, the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire, which covered large parts of South Asia. All three UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the city, the Qutub Minar, Humayun's Tomb, and the Red Fort, belong to this period. Delhi was the early centre of Sufism and Qawwali music. The names of Nizamuddin Auliya and Amir Khusrau are prominently associated with it. The Khariboli dialect of Delhi was part of a linguistic development that gave rise to the literature of Urdu and later Modern Standard Hindi. Major Urdu poets from Delhi include Mir Taqi Mir and Mirza Ghalib. Delhi was a notable centre of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. In 1911, New Delhi, a southern region within Delhi, became the capital of the British Indian Empire. During the Partition of India in 1947, Delhi was transformed from a Mughal city to a Punjabi one,<ref> * {{citation |last1=Talbot |first1=Ian |last2=Singh |first2=Gurharpal |title=The Partition of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=utKmPQAACAAJ&pg=PA118 |year=2009 |pages=118&ndash;119 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85661-4 |quote=It is now almost a cliché that the Partition transformed Delhi from a Mughal to a Punjabi city. The bitter experiences of the refugees at the hands of Islamists in Pakistan encouraged them to support right-wing Hindu parties. ... Trouble began in September (1947) after the arrival of refugees from Pakistan who were determined on revenge and driving Muslims out of properties which they could then occupy. Gandhi in his prayer meetings in Birla House denounced the 'crooked and ungentlemanly' squeezing out of Muslims who left for Pakistan. Despite these exhortations, two-thirds of the city's Muslims were to abandon India's capital eventually. |access-date=3 December 2021 |archive-date=2 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202201454/https://books.google.com/books?id=utKmPQAACAAJ&pg=PA118 |url-status=live }} *{{cite book|last=Sen|first=Uditi|title = Calcutta: The Stormy Decades| editor1-last= Bandyopadhyay|editor1-first=Sekhar|editor2-last=Sarkar|editor2-first=Tanika |year=2017|chapter=Building Bijaygarh: A Microhistory of Refugee Squatting in Calcutta|page=407|isbn=9781351581721|publisher=Routledge|quote=Historians of the Partition of India broadly acknowledge that the demographic upheaval that followed in its wake permanently altered the faces of the capital cities of South Asia. Karachi and Dhaka were transformed overnight into national capitals; Delhi changed from a Mughal city to a Punjabi one, while Calcutta, which had always been a city of migrants, rapidly earned the dubious distinction of becoming a city of refugees.}} *{{citation|last=Virdee|first=Pippa|title=Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India|chapter=Partitioning India: Dreams, memories, and legacies|editor-last=Jacobsen|editor-first=Knut A.|publisher=Routledge|year=2023|isbn=9781000984231|doi=10.4324/9781003278436-3|quote=The mass migration of people following Partition also fundamentally altered the physical landscape. Delhi, the colonial capital, was transformed from an Urdu-speaking Muslim city in character to a city that housed the incoming Punjabi refugees that now lend much of their character to the city. … Delhi retains its Mughal links through the extensive architecture that dominates the city, but the people are now heavily influenced by Punjabi migrants. Mughal place names and influences though are gradually being erased in favour of more ‘ancient’ and ‘authentic’ alternatives.}} *{{citation|last=Guha|first=Ramchandra|title=India after Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy|publisher= Pan Macmillan|year=2011 |isbn=9780330540209| quote=Meanwhile, thousands of refugees had made their homes in Delhi itself. Till 1911 that city had been Muslim in character and culture. In that year, the British shifted their capital there from Calcutta. After 1947 New Delhi became the seat of the government of free India. Urdu-speaking Muslims went away to Pakistan, many unwillingly, while Punjabi-speaking Hindus and Sikhas arrived in their place. They set up house, and shop, wherever they could. … Indeed, a city that was once a Mughal city, then a British city, had by the 1950s emphatically become a Punjabi city.}}</ref><ref> A large number of refugees migrated out of Sindh, Pakistan in 1947. They were found living in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Hyderabad, and Maharashtra: *{{cite journal |last1 = Gautam | first1 = Khushboo | last2 = Devnani | first2 = Chanchal | last3 = Dasgupta | first3 = Shruti | last4 = Reddy | first4 = Madhusudan | title = Genetic architecture of the Sindhi Indian population: a 19X-STR forensic analysis| journal = BMC Genomics | year = 2025 | volume = 26 | issue = 889 | article-number = 889 | doi=10.1186/s12864-025-12032-8 | pmid = 41057809 | pmc = 12505593 | doi-access = free | quote = A large number of Sindhi migrated from Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947 and were found inhabiting Gujarat, Rajasthan, Hyderabad, and Maharashtra.}} *{{cite journal | last1 = Kumar | first1 = Priya | last2 = Kumar | first2 = Rita | title = Sindh, 1947 and Beyond | journal = South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies | year = 2016 | volume = 39 | issue = 4 | pages = 773&ndash;789 | publisher = Routledge | doi = 10.1080/00856401.2016.1244752 | quote = Meanwhile, the modalities of travel from Sindh also ensured relative safety. A large number of Sindhi Hindus travelled by sea, arriving directly at the ports of Bombay (now Mumbai), Porbandar, Veraval and Okha in Gujarat, enabling them to avoid the dangers of border crossing. Those who travelled by train from the interior of Sindh arrived in Rajasthan, also evading the violence in parts of North India. A smaller number crossed the Thar Desert border area by camel. This occludes from the Sindhi experience the metaphor of the death trains, a central trope of much Partition literature and film.}} *{{cite journal|last1=Kumar | first1 = Lomous | last2=Nongmaithem | first2 = Suraj| last3 = Kumar | first3 = Sachin | last4 = Thangaraj | first4= Kumarasamy |title=Investigating the demographic history of Sindhi population inhabited in West Coast India |journal = Human Genomics | year = 2025|volume = 19 | issue = 111| article-number = 111 |doi = 10.1186/s40246-025-00822-w | pmid = 41029758 | pmc = 12487577 | doi-access = free | quote= (Introduction, page 2) During Partition, a large number (about a million) of non-Muslim Sindhi migrated to Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Punjab.}} *{{cite book|last1=Ansari|first1=Sarah | last2= Gould |first2 = William | title = Boundaries of Belonging: Localities, Citizenship and Rights in India and Pakistan | page = 71| publisher = Cambridge University Press| year = 2019|doi=10.1017/9781108164511.004 | quote = Though a definitive total is impossible to provide thanks to the massive demographic confusion that Partition produced, an estimated fourteen to sixteen million people sought to cross the hastily delineated borders in what remains arguably the largest migration in history. ... people crossed the Rajasthan border into and out of Sindh or travelled by ship between the port cities of Bombay and Karachi.}}</ref> losing two-thirds of its Muslim residents, in part due to the pressure brought to bear by the arriving Hindu and Sikh refugees from western Punjab.<ref> *{{citation|last=Talbot|first=Ian|title=The History of British Diplomacy in Pakistan|year=2020|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781000326703 |quote=Delhi had also experienced a refugee influx that transformed it from a Mughal city to a Punjabi city in the aftermath of Partition. Despite the departure of around 300,000 Muslims, the city’s population grew dramatically with attendant pressures on housing. By the beginning of August 1947, there were already 80,000 refugees in the city, and after the Transfer of Power, this number was swollen daily by around 4,000&ndash;5,000 migrants from Pakistan Punjab. The 1951 Census revealed that every third person in the city was a partition migrant.}} *{{citation|last=Kumar|first=Sunil|chapter=Delhi|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought |editor1-last = Bowering|editor1-first =Gerhard| editor2-last =Crone|editor2-first= Patricia|editor3-last=Mirza|editor3-first=Mahan|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn= 9780691134840 |year=2013 | page = 127| quote=... it was not until 1648 and the construction of the new city in the northern part of the riverine plain by Shibab al-Did Shah Jahan that the imperial capital returned to Delhi. The new capital was named Shahajahanabad … was the largest, most complex, and expansive city to be constructed in the Delhi region. … The demise of Shahjahanabad as a center of culture, social life, and political authority was confirmed when the British started constructing New Delhi as their capital. The new colonial capital was modeled on architectural paradigms first tested in South Africa and Australia and, other than in its decorative aspects, retained little of the urban traditions of the Delhi Sultanate or Shajahanabad. Independent India inherited this city as its capital in 1947, a transition that was disrupted by partition and communal clashes with large numbers of the city’s Muslim population fled and were replaced by displaced Punjabi refugees from West Pakistan. The demographic change in the population brought new residents to the city who were far removed from its history and culture. ‘’Hazrat-i-Dehli’’ meant little to the new residents of the capital of independent India, a past of the city that resides uneasily with its present.}} *{{cite journal | last = Geva | first = Rotem | title = Press charges: renegotiating free speech and citizenship in post-partition Delhi | journal = Contemporary South Asia | publisher = Routledge | year = 2024 | volume = 32 | issue = 2 | pages = 137&ndash;150 | doi = 10.1080/09584935.2024.2341175 | quote =This article analyzes the conflict between press censorship and press freedom in Delhi during the period immediately after partition, …. Decolonization had a momentous impact on India’s capital city, Delhi, resulting in structural shifts and dislocations. As the seat of political power and an emblem of the nation, Delhi was central to the projects of nation building and state formation, with their attendant ideological and power struggles. At the same time, Delhi became a ‘partition city,’ overwhelmed with roughly half a million Hindu and Sikh refugees from West Pakistan, desperate for food, shelter, and livelihood. Amid this crisis, major violence erupted, targeting Delhi’s Muslims and forcing over two-thirds of them to flee to Pakistan.}} </ref> After independence in 1947, New Delhi continued as the capital of the Dominion of India, and after 1950, of the Republic of India.

Delhi's urban agglomeration, which includes the satellite cities Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Greater Noida and YEIDA city located in an area known as the National Capital Region (NCR), has an estimated population of over 28&nbsp;million, making it the largest metropolitan area in India and the fourth-largest in the world (after Jakarta, Dhaka, and Tokyo, respectively).<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 November 2025 |title=World Urbanization Prospects 2025: Summary of Results {{!}} DESA Publications |url=https://desapublications.un.org/publications/world-urbanization-prospects-2025-summary-results |access-date=26 May 2026 |website=desapublications.un.org |language=en}}</ref> Delhi ranks fifth among the Indian states and union territories in human development index,<ref>{{cite web |title=Sub-national HDI – Area Database |url=https://hdi.globaldatalab.org/areadata/shdi/ |website=Global Data Lab |publisher=Institute for Management Research, Radboud University |access-date=25 September 2018 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923120638/https://hdi.globaldatalab.org/areadata/shdi/ |archive-date=23 September 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> and has the second-highest GDP per capita in India (after Goa).<ref name="NSDP"/> Delhi hosted the inaugural 1951 Asian Games, the 1982 Asian Games, the 1983 Non-Aligned Movement summit, the 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup, the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2012 BRICS summit, and the 2023 G20 summit, and was one of the major host cities of the 2011 and 2023 Cricket World Cups.

== Toponym == There are a number of myths and legends associated with the origin of the name ''Delhi''. One of them is derived from ''Dhillu'' or ''Dilu'', a king who built a city at this location in 50&nbsp;BCE and named it after himself.<ref name="ecosurv1">{{cite web |url=https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/1.pdf |title=Chapter 1: Introduction |access-date=21 December 2011 |work=Economic Survey of Delhi, 2005–2006 |publisher=Planning Department, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi |pages=1–7 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161113174155/https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/1.pdf |archive-date=13 November 2016 }}</ref><ref name=dhillu>{{cite book |last=Bakshi|first=S.R.|title=Delhi Through Ages|orig-year=2002|publisher=Whispering Eye Bangdat |isbn=978-81-7488-138-0|page=2|year=1995}}</ref><ref name=geobritish>{{cite book |last=Smith|first=George|title=The Geography of British India, Political & Physical |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_C20DAAAAQAAJ|quote=raja delhi BC.|access-date=1 November 2008|publisher=J. Murray|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_C20DAAAAQAAJ/page/n258 216]–217|year=1882}}</ref> Another legend holds that the name of the city is based on the Prakrit word {{transliteration|hi|dhili}} (''loose'') and that it was used by the Tomaras to refer to the city because the iron pillar of Delhi had a weak foundation and had to be moved.<ref name=geobritish /> According to Panjab Notes and Queries, the name of the city at the time of King Prithviraj was {{transliteration|hi|dilpat}}, and that {{transliteration|hi|dilpat}} and {{transliteration|hi|dilli}} are probably derived from the old Hindi word {{transliteration|hi|dil}} meaning "eminence". The former director of the Archaeological Survey of India, Alexander Cunningham, mentioned that {{transliteration|hi|dilli}} later became {{transliteration|hi|dihli/dehli}}.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://dsalsrv04.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/hobsonjobson_query.py?qs=DELHI&searchhws=yes |title=Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive |access-date=30 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701211851/https://dsalsrv04.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/hobsonjobson_query.py?qs=DELHI&searchhws=yes |archive-date=1 July 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref> Some suggest the coins in circulation in the region under the Tomaras were called ''dehliwal''.<ref name=ncertVII>{{cite web |url=https://ncert.nic.in/textbooks/testing/Index.htm|title=Our Pasts II, History Textbook for Class VII|access-date=6 July 2007|publisher=NCERT |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070623140748/https://www.ncert.nic.in/textbooks/testing/Index.htm |archive-date = 23 June 2007}}</ref> According to the Bhavishya Purana, King Prithiviraja of Indraprastha built a new fort in the modern-day Purana Qila area for the convenience of all four castes in his kingdom. He ordered the construction of a gateway to the fort and later named the fort ''dehali''.<ref name=historyhistoryabtindra>[https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V11_242.gif Delhi City] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303190534/https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V11_242.gif |date=3 March 2016 }} The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1909, v. 11, p. 236.</ref> Some historians believe that ''Dhilli'' or ''Dhillika'' is the original name for the city while others believe the name could be a corruption of the Hindustani words ''dehleez'' or ''dehali''—both terms meaning "threshold" or "gateway"—and symbolic of the city as a gateway to the Gangetic Plain.<ref name=cohen>{{cite journal |last = Cohen |first=Richard J. |date=October–December 1989 |title=An Early Attestation of the Toponym Dhilli | journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume = 109 | issue = 4 |pages=513–519 | doi = 10.2307/604073 |jstor = 604073}}</ref><ref name=dhilika>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Chauhans (Cahamanas, Cauhans)|access-date=22 December 2006 |last=Austin |first=Ian |author2=Thhakur Nahar Singh Jasol |encyclopedia=The Mewar Encyclopedia |publisher=mewarindia.com |url=https://www.mewarindia.com/ency/chat.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061114120751/https://mewarindia.com/ency/chat.html |archive-date = 14 November 2006}}</ref>

The people of Delhi are referred to as ''Delhiites'' or ''Dilliwalas''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Why developers charge a premium for upper storeys in Delhi/NCR region|url=https://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-08-05/news/29855331_1_floor-psf-delhiites|newspaper=The Economic Times|date=5 August 2011|access-date=30 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127185535/https://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-08-05/news/29855331_1_floor-psf-delhiites|archive-date=27 January 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> The city is referenced in various idioms of the Northern Indo-Aryan languages. Examples include: * {{transliteration|hi|Abhī Dillī dūr hai}} ({{lang|hi|अभी दिल्ली दूर है}} / {{Lang|ur|{{unq|ابھی دلی دور ہے}}}}) or its Persian version, {{transliteration|fa|Hanuz Dehli dur ast}} ({{lang|fa|هنوز دهلی دور است}}), literally meaning "Delhi is still far away", which is generically said about a task or journey still far from completion.<ref name="ref46cojam">{{Cite book | title=A handbook for travellers in India, Burma and Ceylon | author=John Murray | publisher=J. Murray, 1924 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kEKAQAAIAAJ | quote='Dilli hanoz dur ast' ('Delhi is still far off') – has passed into the currency of a proverb | year=1924 | access-date=6 November 2015 | archive-date=1 January 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101225812/https://books.google.com/books?id=0kEKAQAAIAAJ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ref88difob">{{Cite book | title=A dictionary of Hindustani proverbs | author1=S.W. Fallon | author2=Dihlavi Fakir Chand | publisher=Printed at the Medical hall press, 1886 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hh8UAAAAYAAJ | quote=Abhi Dilli dur hai | year=1886 | access-date=6 November 2015 | archive-date=1 January 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101225812/https://books.google.com/books?id=hh8UAAAAYAAJ | url-status=live }}</ref> * {{transliteration|hi|Ās-pās barse, Dillī pānī tarse}} ({{lang|hi|आस-पास बरसे, दिल्ली पानी तरसे}} / {{Lang|ur|{{unq|آس پاس برسے، دلی پانی ترسے}}}}), literally meaning "It pours all around, while Delhi lies parched". An allusion to the sometimes semi-arid climate of Delhi, it idiomatically refers to situations of deprivation when one is surrounded by plenty.<ref name="ref88difob" />

The form ''Delhi'', spelled in the Latin script with the ''h'' following the ''l'', originated under colonial rule and is an alternation of the spelling based on the Urdu name of the city ({{Nastaliq|دہلی}}, ''Dehli'').<ref>Syed Mahdi Husain: ''Bahadur Shah Zafar and the War of 1857 in Dehli''. Aakar Books, Delhi 2006, ISBN 81-87879-91-2, p. LV of the preface.</ref>

== History == {{Main|History of Delhi|Old Delhi}}

{{Quote box | width = 17em | align = top | bgcolor = #B0C4DE | title = Historical affiliations | fontsize = 80% | quote = Kuru Kingdom c. 1200 BCE – c. 345 BCE <br /> Nanda Empire c. 345 BCE – c. 322 BCE <br /> Mauryan Empire c. 322 BCE – 185 BCE <br /> Shunga Empire 185 BCE – 73 BCE <br /> Sakas 1st century CE <br /> Kushan Empire 30 CE – 375 CE <br /> {{flagicon image|Garuda emblem.png|20px}} Gupta Empire c. 240 CE – c. 550 CE <br /> Pushyabhuti dynasty c. 500 – c. 647 CE <br /> Varman dynasty c. 725 – c. 770 CE <br /> Pratihara dynasty c. 730 – 1036 CE <br /> Chahamanas of Shakambhari c. 1036 – 1192 CE <br /> Ghurid dynasty 1192 – 1206 CE <br /> {{flagicon image|Delhi Sultanate Flag.svg|20px}} Delhi Sultanate 1206 – 1398 CE <br /> 15px Timurid Empire 1398 CE <br /> {{flagicon image|Delhi Sultanate Flag.svg|20px}} Delhi Sultanate 1398 – 1526 CE <br /> {{flagicon image|Alam of the Mughal Empire.svg|20px}} Mughal Empire 1526 – 1540 CE <br /> Sur Empire 1540 – 1555 CE <br /> {{flagicon image|Alam of the Mughal Empire.svg|20px}} Mughal Empire 1555 – 1737 CE <br /> {{flagicon image|Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg|20px}} Maratha Empire influence 1737 CE <br /> 25px Afsharids 1738 – 1739 CE <br /> {{flagicon image|Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg|20px}} Maratha Empire 1737 – 1803 CE <br /> 18px Durrani Empire 1757 CE <br /> {{flagicon image|Flag of the British East India Company (1801).svg|20px}} British East India Company 1803 – 1858 CE <br /> {{flagcountry|British Raj}} British India 1858 CE – 1947 CE <br /> {{flagicon|India}} India 1947 CE – Present }}

=== Ancient and early medieval periods === [[File:Purana Qila ramparts, Delhi.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|The walls of the 16th-century Purana Qila built on a mound matching ancient literary descriptions<ref name=asher-indraprastha/>]] Traditionally seven cities have been associated with the region of Delhi. The earliest, Indraprastha, is part of a literary description in the Sanskrit epic ''Mahabharata'' (composed c. 400&nbsp;BCE to 300&nbsp;CE but describing an earlier time<ref>{{cite book |last1=Austin |first1=Christopher R. |title=Pradyumna: Lover, Magician, and Scion of the Avatāra |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-005411-3 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4jCoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 |language=en |access-date=2 February 2024 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907124231/https://books.google.com/books?id=4jCoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 |url-status=live }}</ref>) which situates a city on a knoll on the banks of the river Yamuna. According to art historian Catherine B. Asher, the topographical description of the ''Mahabharata'' matches the area of Purana Qila, a 14th-century&nbsp;CE fort of the Delhi sultanate, but the analogy does not go much further. Whereas the ''Mahabharata'' speaks of a beautifully decorated city with surrounding fortifications, the excavations have yielded "uneven findings of painted grey pottery characteristic of the eleventh century BCE; no signs of a built environment, much less fortifications, have been revealed."<ref name=asher-indraprastha>{{citation|last=Asher|first=Catherine|title=City Walls: The Urban Enceinte in Global Perspective|editor=James D. Tracy|publisher=Cambridge University Press|chapter=Delhi walled: Changing boundaries|date=25 September 2000|pages=247&ndash;, 250|isbn=9780521652216|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S7dUv-1Ql2oC|access-date=12 October 2021|archive-date=9 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109200300/https://books.google.com/books?id=S7dUv-1Ql2oC|url-status=live}}</ref>

The earliest architectural relics date back to the Maurya period (c. 300&nbsp;BCE); in 1966, an inscription of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (273–235&nbsp;BCE) was discovered near Srinivaspuri. Remains of several major cities can be found in Delhi. The first of these was in the southern part of present-day Delhi. Tomara Rajput King Anang Pal built the Lal Kot and several temples in 1052&nbsp;CE. The Chauhan Rajputs under Vigraharaja IV conquered Lal Kot in the mid-12th century and renamed it Qila Rai Pithora.

=== Late medieval period === {{See also|Delhi Sultanate}} thumb|upright|The Qutub Minar, Delhi Prithviraj Chauhan was defeated in 1192 by Muhammad Ghori in the second battle of Tarain. Qutb-ud-din Aibak, was given the responsibility of governing the conquered territories of India after Ghori returned to his capital, Ghor. When Ghori died without an heir in 1206&nbsp;CE, Qutb-ud-din assumed control of Ghori's Indian possessions and laid the foundation of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mamluk dynasty. He began construction of the Qutb Minar and Quwwat-al-Islam (Might of Islam) mosque, the earliest extant mosque in India. It was his successor, Iltutmish (1211–1236), who consolidated the conquest of northern India.<ref name=ecosurv1 /><ref name=Quwwat>{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/archive/periodicreporting/cycle01/section2/233-summary.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060524155833/https://whc.unesco.org/archive/periodicreporting/cycle01/section2/233-summary.pdf|archive-date=24 May 2006|title=India: Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi |access-date=22 December 2006 |work= State of Conservation of the World Heritage Properties in the Asia-Pacific Region: : Summaries of Periodic Reports 2003 by property, Section II |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |pages=71–72}}</ref> At {{convert|72.5|m|abbr=on|0}}, the Qutb Minar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Delhi,<ref name="Qutab">{{cite web|url=https://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=6643&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html|title=Under threat: The Magnificent Minaret of Jam|work=The New Courier No 1|date=October 2002|publisher=UNESCO|access-date=3 May 2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060522201305/https://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D6643%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html|archive-date=22 May 2006}}</ref> was completed during the reign of Sultan Illtutmish in the 13th century. Although its style has some similarities with the Jarkurgan minaret, it is more closely related to the Ghaznavid and Ghurid minarets of Central Asia<ref name=mcclary-medieval-monuments>{{citation|last = McClary|first=Richard Piran|title=Medieval Monuments of Central Asia: Qarakhanid Architecture of the 11th and 12th Centuries|year= 2020|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|page=287|url= |quote=The second story of the minaret, built during the reign of Iltutmish" (r. 1211-36), features a similar form of ribbing to the shaft as is seen at the Jar Kurgan minaret, but the lower section features alternating flanges and ribs, while the third storey is entirely flanged, with a stellate plan. The Qutb Minar is more closely related to the Ghaznavid and Ghurid traditions of minaret construction, although all the surviving large minarets from Central Asia can be seen to share certain general characteristics, namely, a tall tapering shaft and bands of decoration. }}</ref> Razia, daughter of Iltutmish, became the Sultana of Delhi upon the former's death.

For the next three hundred years, Delhi was ruled by a succession of Turkic, Indian and an Afghan, Lodi dynasty. They built several forts and townships that are part of the seven cities of Delhi.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta's_Trip_Seven.html |title=Battuta's Travels: Delhi, capital of Muslim India |publisher=Sfusd.k12.ca.us |access-date=7 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423014415/https://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta%27s_Trip_Seven.html |archive-date=23 April 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Delhi was a major centre of Sufism during this period.<ref>{{cite book |title=Travel Delhi, India |location=History section |page=10 |isbn=9781605010519 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MsYj4ysWQ6sC&q=delhi+was+center+of+sufism&pg=PT9 |author1=Mobilereference |year=2007 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The Mamluk Sultanate (Delhi) was overthrown in 1290 by Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji (1290–1320). Under the second Khalji ruler, Ala-ud-din Khalji, the Delhi sultanate extended its control south of the Narmada River in the Deccan. The Delhi sultanate reached its greatest extent during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq (1325–1351). In an attempt to bring the whole of the Deccan under control, he moved his capital to Daulatabad, Maharashtra in central India. However, by moving away from Delhi he lost control of the north and was forced to return to Delhi to restore order. The southern provinces then broke away. In the years following the reign of Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1351–1388), the Delhi Sultanate rapidly began to lose its hold over its northern provinces. Delhi was captured and sacked by Timur in 1398,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/mongols/timurid.html |title=The Islamic World to 1600: The Mongol Invasions (The Timurid Empire) |publisher=Ucalgary.ca |access-date=7 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090816204247/https://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/mongols/timurid.html |archive-date=16 August 2009 }}</ref> who massacred 100,000 captive civilians.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rubinstein |first=W. D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMMAk4VwLLwC&pg=PA28 |title=Genocide: A History |date=2004 |publisher=Pearson Longman |isbn=978-0-582-50601-5 |language=en}}</ref> Delhi's decline continued under the Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451), until the sultanate was reduced to Delhi and its hinterland. Under the Afghan Lodi dynasty (1451–1526), the sultanate recovered control of Punjab and the Gangetic plain to once again achieve domination over Northern India. However, the recovery was short-lived and the sultanate was destroyed in 1526 by Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

=== Early modern period === {{See also|Mughal Empire}} [[File:Delhi Red fort.jpg|thumb|left|Red Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the main residence of the Mughal emperors for nearly 200 years. |alt=Red Fort with the Indian Flag at the centre]] In 1526, Babur, a descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur from the Fergana Valley in modern-day Uzbekistan, invaded India and defeated the last Lodhi sultan in the First Battle of Panipat and founded the Mughal Empire that ruled from Delhi and Agra.<ref name=ecosurv1 /> The Mughal dynasty ruled Delhi for more than three centuries, with a sixteen-year hiatus during the reigns of Sher Shah Suri and Hemu from 1540 to 1556.<ref name=shershah>{{cite web |url=https://www.indhistory.com/sher-shah-suri.html |title=Sher Shah&nbsp;– The Lion King |access-date=22 December 2006 |work=India's History: Medieval India |publisher=indhistory.com |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061212214725/https://www.indhistory.com/sher-shah-suri.html |archive-date=12 December 2006 }}</ref> Shah Jahan built the seventh city of Delhi that bears his name ''Shahjahanabad'', which served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1638 and is today known as the ''Old City'' or ''Old Delhi''.<ref name=book11111>{{cite book |title=Travel Delhi, India |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MsYj4ysWQ6sC&pg=PT10 |isbn=9781605010519 |author1=Mobilereference |year=2007 |publisher=MobileReference.com }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the Mughal Empire's influence declined rapidly as the Hindu Maratha Empire from Deccan Plateau rose to prominence.<ref>{{cite book |last = Thomas |first = Amelia |title = Rajasthan, Delhi and Agra |publisher = Lonely Planet |isbn = 978-1-74104-690-8|year = 2008 }}</ref> In 1737, Maratha forces led by Baji Rao I sacked Delhi following their victory against the Mughals in the First Battle of Delhi. In 1739, the Mughal Empire lost the huge Battle of Karnal in less than three hours against the numerically outnumbered but militarily superior Persian army led by Nader Shah of Persia. After his invasion, he completely sacked and looted Delhi, carrying away immense wealth including the Peacock Throne, the Daria-i-Noor, and Koh-i-Noor. The Mughals, severely further weakened, could never overcome this crushing defeat and humiliation which also left the way open for more invaders to come, including eventually the British.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ak5oFjTys8MC&q=battle+of+karnal+less+than+three+hours&pg=RA1-PA349|title=Later Mughal|last1=Irvine|first1=William|year=1971|access-date=2 October 2020|archive-date=13 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413204034/https://books.google.com/books?id=ak5oFjTys8MC&q=battle+of+karnal+less+than+three+hours&pg=RA1-PA349|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2uPAgAAQBAJ&q=nader+shah+humiliating+sack+of+delhi&pg=PA288|title=Territories and States of India|isbn=9781135356255|last1=Boland-Crewe|first1=Tara|last2=Lea|first2=David|date=2 September 2003|publisher=Routledge |access-date=2 October 2020|archive-date=13 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413204219/https://books.google.com/books?id=M2uPAgAAQBAJ&q=nader+shah+humiliating+sack+of+delhi&pg=PA288|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.avalanchepress.com/Soldier_Shah.php |title=Iran in the Age of the Raj |publisher=Avalanchepress.com |access-date=11 March 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110113091203/https://avalanchepress.com/Soldier_Shah.php |archive-date=13 January 2011 }}</ref> Nader eventually agreed to leave the city and India after forcing the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah I to beg him for mercy and granting him the keys of the city and the royal treasury.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QsDSGn8jLPAC&q=muhammad+shah+nader+shah+beg+for+mercy&pg=PA298|title=Soul and Structure of Governance in India|isbn=9788177648317|author1=Jagmohan|year=2005|publisher=Allied Publishers |access-date=2 October 2020|archive-date=13 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413203840/https://books.google.com/books?id=QsDSGn8jLPAC&q=muhammad+shah+nader+shah+beg+for+mercy&pg=PA298|url-status=live}}</ref> A treaty signed in 1752 made Marathas the protectors of the Mughal throne in Delhi.<ref>{{cite book |last = Gordon |first = Stewart |title = The Marathas 1600–1818, Volume 2 |publisher = Cambridge University Press|year=1993 |isbn = 978-0-521-26883-7}}</ref> The city was sacked again in 1757 by the forces of Ahmad Shah Durrani, although it was not annexed by the Afghan Empire and being its vassal state under the Mughal emperor. Then the Marathas battled and won control of Delhi from the Afghans.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/context-culture/bollywoods-great-betrayal-of-afghanistan-panipat-and-the-cost-of-vilifying-ahmad-shah-durrani/ |title=Bollywood's 'Great Betrayal' of Afghanistan: "Panipat" and the cost of vilifying Ahmad Shah Durrani |date=9 March 2020 |access-date=14 December 2021 |archive-date=9 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109114413/https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/context-culture/bollywoods-great-betrayal-of-afghanistan-panipat-and-the-cost-of-vilifying-ahmad-shah-durrani/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Colonial period === {{See also|British Raj}} [[File:NewDelhiInaugurationSecondDayCancellation27Feb1931.jpg|thumb|British India stamps, inauguration, New Delhi, February 1931]] In 1803, during the Second Anglo-Maratha War, the forces of British East India Company defeated the Maratha forces in the Battle of Delhi.<ref>{{cite book |last = Mayaram |first = Shail |title = Against history, against state: counter perspective from the margins Cultures of history |publisher = Columbia University Press|year= 2003 |isbn = 978-0-231-12731-8}}</ref> During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Delhi fell to the forces of East India Company after a bloody fight known as the Siege of Delhi. The city came under the direct control of the British Government in 1858. It was made a district province of the Punjab.<ref name=ecosurv1 /> In 1911, it was announced that the capital of the British Indian Empire was to be transferred from Calcutta to Delhi.<ref name="cal to del">{{cite news |title=Shifting pain |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Shifting-pain/articleshow/11065881.cms |access-date=18 June 2012 |date=11 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127185454/https://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-12-11/kolkata/30504131_1_bengalis-capital-british-empire |archive-date=27 January 2013 |newspaper=The Times of India |url-status=live}}</ref> This formally transferred on 12 December 1911.<ref>Chronicle of 20th Century History edited by J S Bowman ISBN 1-85422-005-5</ref>

The name "New Delhi" was given in 1927, and the new capital was inaugurated on 13 February 1931. New Delhi was officially declared as the capital of the Union of India after the country gained independence on 15 August 1947.<ref>{{cite book |title=Travel Delhi |page=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MsYj4ysWQ6sC&q=delhi+was+declared+capital+of+india&pg=PT7 |isbn=978-1-60501-051-9 |date=1 January 2007 |author1=Mobilereference|publisher=MobileReference.com }}{{Dead link|date=January 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

=== Partition and post-independence === [[File:New Delhi India ~Khan Market.jpg|thumb|left|Khan Market in New Delhi, now a high-end shopping district, was established in 1951 to help refugees of the Partition of India, especially those from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). It honours Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan, chief minister of NWFP during the Partition.<ref name=lakhani-indexpress-khan>{{cite web|last=Lakhani|first=Somya|title=Khan Market's humble beginnings: Meant for refugees, 'doomed to fail'|work=Indian Express|date=17 May 2019|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/delhi/khan-markets-humble-beginnings-meant-for-refugees-doomed-to-fail-5732031/|access-date=14 October 2021|quote='This market was set up for those who had been displaced; refugees who had migrated from the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP)&nbsp;...' said Sanjiv Mehra, president of Khan Market Traders' Association and owner of Allied Toy Store. It was aptly named after popular NWFP leader Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan or Dr Khan Sahib, the elder brother of Pashtun Independence activist Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan or Frontier Gandhi.|archive-date=27 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027175349/https://indianexpress.com/article/delhi/khan-markets-humble-beginnings-meant-for-refugees-doomed-to-fail-5732031/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="bhardwaj-khan-reuters">{{cite web |last=Bhardwaj |first=Mayank |date=31 May 2019 |title='Khan Market Gang': Modi mocks his elite adversaries |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/india-politics-khanmarket-idINKCN1T10KM |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019233449/https://www.reuters.com/article/india-politics-khanmarket-idINKCN1T10KM |archive-date=19 October 2021 |access-date=14 October 2021 |work=Reuters}}</ref>]] During the partition of India, around five hundred thousand Hindu and Sikh refugees, mainly from West Punjab migrated to Delhi, whereas around three hundred thousand Muslim residents of the city migrated to Pakistan.<ref>[https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/capital-gains-how-1947-gave-birth-to-a-new-identity-a-new-ambition-a-new-delhi/story-e0GfoFrhwStTU2910v5DrJ.html "Capital gains: How 1947 gave birth to a new identity, a new ambition, a new Delhi"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513231829/https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/capital-gains-how-1947-gave-birth-to-a-new-identity-a-new-ambition-a-new-delhi/story-e0GfoFrhwStTU2910v5DrJ.html |date=13 May 2021 }}. ''Hindustan Times''. 24 April 2018.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/muslim-ghettos-of-delhi-6297633/|title=How Muslim ghettos came about in Delhi|date=3 March 2020|access-date=31 July 2021|archive-date=31 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731110305/https://indianexpress.com/article/india/muslim-ghettos-of-delhi-6297633/|url-status=live}}</ref> Delhi has expanded much since 1947; the small part of it that was constructed during the British period has come to be informally known as ''Lutyens' Delhi''.<ref name=lutdelhiii>{{cite news |title=Lutyens' Delhi in race for UN heritage status |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Lutyens-Delhi-in-race-for-UN-heritage-status/Article1-869770.aspx |access-date=18 June 2012 |newspaper=Hindustan Times |date=11 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615235957/https://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Lutyens-Delhi-in-race-for-UN-heritage-status/Article1-869770.aspx |archive-date=15 June 2012 }}</ref>

The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 created the Union Territory of Delhi from its predecessor, the ''Chief Commissioner's Province of Delhi''.<ref name="7thAmend56">{{cite web |title=The Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956 |url=https://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend7.htm |website=Ministry of Law and Justice (India) |access-date=16 March 2017 |year=1956 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501011646/https://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend7.htm |archive-date=1 May 2017}}</ref><ref name="ReorgAct56">{{cite web |title=The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 |url=https://lawmin.nic.in/ld/P-ACT/1956/A1956-37.pdf |website=Ministry of Law and Justice (India) |access-date=16 March 2017 |year=1956 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317144043/https://lawmin.nic.in/ld/P-ACT/1956/A1956-37.pdf |archive-date=17 March 2017}}</ref> The Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991 declared the Union Territory of Delhi to be formally known as the National Capital Territory of Delhi.<ref name=NCTact>{{cite web |url=https://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend69.htm |title=The Constitution (Sixty-Ninth Amendment) Act, 1991 |access-date=8 January 2007 |work=Government of India |publisher=National Informatics Centre, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821020032/https://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend69.htm |archive-date=21 August 2016}}</ref> The Act gave Delhi its legislative assembly along Civil lines, though with limited powers.<ref name=NCTact />

Delhi was the primary site in the nationwide anti-Sikh pogroms of 1984, which resulted in the death of around 2,800 people in the city according to government figures, though independent estimates of the number of people killed tend to be higher. The riots were set off by the assassination of Indira Gandhi—the Prime Minister of India at the time—by her Sikh bodyguards.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8306420.stm |title=Indira Gandhi's death remembered |last=Bedi |first=Rahul |date=1 November 2009 |publisher=BBC |quote=The 25th anniversary of Indira Gandhi's assassination revives stark memories of some 3,000 Sikhs killed brutally in the orderly pogrom that followed her killing |access-date=2 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091102113639/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8306420.stm |archive-date=2 November 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2001, the Parliament of India building in New Delhi was attacked by armed militants, killing six security personnel.<ref>{{cite news |title=Terrorists attack Parliament; five intruders, six cops killed |url=https://www.rediff.com/news/2001/dec/13parl1.htm |work=Rediff.com |date=13 December 2001 |access-date=2 November 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006075521/https://www.rediff.com/news/2001/dec/13parl1.htm |archive-date=6 October 2013 }}</ref> India suspected Pakistan-based Jihadist militant groups were behind the attack, which caused a major diplomatic crisis between the two countries.<ref>{{cite news |title=India and Pakistan: Who will strike first? |url=https://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=917228 |work=Economist |date=20 December 2001 |access-date=2 November 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205030926/https://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=917228 |archive-date=5 December 2008}}</ref> There were further terrorist attacks in Delhi in 2005 and 2008, resulting in a total of 92 deaths.<ref name="news24.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1826434,00.html |title=Delhi blasts death toll at 62 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051105143402/https://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0%2C%2C2-10-1462_1826434%2C00.html |archive-date=5 November 2005 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Serial-blasts-rock-Delhi-30-dead-90-injured/articleshow/3479914.cms |title=Serial blasts rock Delhi; 30 dead, 90 injured-India |date=14 September 2008 |access-date=3 November 2008 |first1=Rahul |last1=Tripathi |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915175046/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Serial_blasts_rock_Delhi_18_dead/articleshow/3479914.cms |work=The Times of India |archive-date=15 September 2008 }}</ref> In 2020, Delhi witnessed worst communal violence in decades. The riots, caused mainly by Hindu mobs attacking Muslims,<ref name="guardian-3-16-20-1">{{citation |title=Delhi's Muslims despair of justice after police implicated in riots |last1=Ellis-Peterson |first1=Hannah |last2=Azizur Rahman |first2=Shaikh |location=Delhi |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/16/delhis-muslims-despair-justice-police-implicated-hindu-riots |date=16 March 2020 |access-date=17 March 2020 |quote=As the mob attacks came once, then twice and then a third time in this north-east Delhi neighbourhood, desperate stallholders repeatedly ran to Gokalpuri and Dayalpur police stations crying out for help. But each time they found the gates locked from the inside. For three days, no help came.&nbsp;... Since the riots broke out in Delhi at the end of February, the worst religious conflict to engulf the capital in decades, questions have persisted about the role that the Delhi police played in enabling the violence, which was predominately Hindu mobs attacking Muslims. Of the 51 people who died, at least three-quarters were Muslim, and many Muslims are still missing. |archive-date=17 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317023019/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/16/delhis-muslims-despair-justice-police-implicated-hindu-riots |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="NYTimes-Analysis-March1">{{citation |last1=Gettleman |first1=Jeffrey |last2=Abi-Habib |first2=Maria |title=In India, Modi's Policies Have Lit a Fuse |date=1 March 2020 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/world/asia/india-modi-hindus.html |access-date=1 March 2020 |quote=This past week, as neighborhoods in India's capital burned and religiously driven bloodletting consumed more than 40 lives, most of them Muslim, India's government was quick to say that the violence was spontaneous&nbsp;... Many Muslims are now leaving, hoisting their unburned things on their heads and trudging away from streets that still smell of smoke. |archive-date=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301173003/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/world/asia/india-modi-hindus.html |url-status=live}}</ref> 53 people were killed, two-thirds were Muslims,<ref name=nytimes-2020-3-12-two-thirds>{{citation |title='If We Kill You, Nothing Will Happen': How Delhi's Police Turned Against Muslims |first1=Jeffrey |last1=Gettleman |first2=Sameer |last2=Yasir |first3=Suhasini |last3=Raj |first4=Hari |last4=Kumar |others=Photographs by Loke, Atul |date=12 March 2020 |access-date=13 March 2020 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/world/asia/india-police-muslims.html |quote=Two-thirds of the more than 50 people who were killed and have been identified were Muslim. |archive-date=13 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200313011029/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/world/asia/india-police-muslims.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="wapo-3-6-20-slater-1">{{citation |last1=Slater |first1=Joanna |last2=Masih |first2=Niha |date=6 March 2020 |title=In Delhi's worst violence in decades, a man watched his brother burn |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-delhis-worst-violence-in-decades-a-man-watched-his-brother-burn/2020/03/05/892dbb12-5e45-11ea-ac50-18701e14e06d_story.html |access-date=6 March 2020 |quote=At least 53 people were killed or suffered deadly injuries in violence that persisted for two days. The majority of those killed were Muslims, many shot, hacked or burned to death. A police officer and an intelligence officer were also killed. So too were more than a dozen Hindus, most of them shot or assaulted. |archive-date=7 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200307070624/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-delhis-worst-violence-in-decades-a-man-watched-his-brother-burn/2020/03/05/892dbb12-5e45-11ea-ac50-18701e14e06d_story.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="wapo-3-2-20-slater-1">{{citation |last1=Slater |first1=Joanna |last2=Masih |first2=Niha |date=2 March 2020 |title=What Delhi's worst communal violence in decades means for Modi's India |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/what-days-of-communal-violence-mean-for-modi-and-for-india/2020/03/01/3d649c18-5a68-11ea-8efd-0f904bdd8057_story.html |access-date=15 March 2020 |quote=Zaitoon, 40, who goes by one name, half-cried as she rummaged through the items. She said mobs entered her lane shouting 'Jai Shri Ram,' or 'Victory to Lord Ram,' a slogan favoured by Modi's party, and demanded to know which houses were occupied by Muslims. She said she saw a neighbour set on fire in front of her, an account repeated by other witnesses. |archive-date=3 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303203132/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/what-days-of-communal-violence-mean-for-modi-and-for-india/2020/03/01/3d649c18-5a68-11ea-8efd-0f904bdd8057_story.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and the rest Hindus.<ref name="wapo-3-6-20-slater-1"/>

== Geography == {{Main|Environment of Delhi}}

[[File:Delhi aerial photo 04-2016 img11.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of Delhi in April 2016 with river Yamuna in top-right]] Delhi is located in North India at {{coord|28.61|N|77.23|E}}. The city is bordered on its northern, western, and southern sides by the state of Haryana and to the east by that of Uttar Pradesh (UP). Two prominent features of the geography of Delhi are the Yamuna flood plains and the Delhi Ridge. The Yamuna River was the historical boundary between Haryana and UP, and its floodplains provide fertile alluvial soil suitable for agriculture but are prone to recurrent flooding. The Yamuna, a sacred river in Hinduism, is the only major river flowing through Delhi. The Hindon River separates Ghaziabad from the eastern part of Delhi. The Delhi Ridge originates in the Aravalli Range to the south and encircles the west, northeast, and northwest parts of the city. It reaches a height of {{convert|318|m|abbr=on}} and is a dominant feature of the region.<ref name=gisridge>{{cite web |url=https://www.fig.net/resources/proceedings/fig_proceedings/fig_2002/Ts3-9/TS3_9_mohan.pdf |title=GIS-Based Spatial Information Integration, Modeling and Digital Mapping: A New Blend of Tool for Geospatial Environmental Health Analysis for Delhi Ridge |access-date=3 February 2007 |last=Mohan |first=Madan |date=April 2002 |work=Spatial Information for Health Monitoring and Population Management |publisher=FIG XXII International Congress |page=5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222151705/https://www.fig.net/resources/proceedings/fig_proceedings/fig_2002/Ts3-9/TS3_9_mohan.pdf |archive-date=22 December 2015 }}</ref>

In addition to the wetlands formed by the Yamuna River, Delhi continues to retain over 500 ponds (wetlands < {{Convert|5|ha|abbr=in}}), which in turn support a considerable number of bird species.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Rawal |first1=Prakhar |last2=Kittur |first2=Swati |last3=Chatakonda |first3=Murali Krishna |last4=Sundar |first4=K S Gopi |title=Winter bird abundance, species richness and functional guild composition at Delhi's ponds: does time of day and wetland extent matter? |journal=Journal of Urban Ecology |date=22 January 2021 |volume=7 |issue=1 |article-number=juab001 |doi=10.1093/jue/juab001 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Delhi's ponds, despite experiencing ecological deterioration due to garbage dumping and concretisation, support the largest number of bird species known to be using ponds anywhere in the world.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last1=Rawal |first1=Prakhar |last2=Kittur |first2=Swati |last3=Chatakonda |first3=Murali Krishna |last4=Sundar |first4=K.S. Gopi |title=Capital ponds: Site-level habitat heterogeneity and management interventions at ponds regulate high landscape-scale bird diversity across a mega-city |journal=Biological Conservation |date=August 2021 |volume=260 |article-number=109215 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109215 |bibcode=2021BCons.26009215R }}</ref> Existing policy in Delhi prevents the conversion of wetlands and, quite inadvertently, has led to the city's ponds becoming invaluable refuge for birds.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

The National Capital Territory of Delhi covers an area of {{convert|1483|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, of which {{convert|783|km2|sqmi|abbr=on|0}} is designated rural, and {{convert|700|km2|sqmi|abbr=on|0}} urban therefore making it the largest city in terms of area in the country. It has a maximum length of {{convert|51.9|km|mi|abbr=on|0}} and a greatest width of {{convert|48.48|km|mi|abbr=on|0}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://delhiplanning.delhi.gov.in/sites/default/files/Planning/economic-survey-2005-06/cht1.pdf |title=Economic Survey of Delhi, 2005–06 |publisher=Government of NCT of Delhi |access-date=6 May 2026}}</ref>Delhi is included in India's seismic zone-IV, indicating its vulnerability to major earthquakes.<ref name=hazardprofile>{{cite web |url=https://www.undp.org.in/dmweb/hazardprofile.pdf |title=Hazard profiles of Indian districts |access-date=23 August 2006 |work=National Capacity Building Project in Disaster Management |publisher=UNDP |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060519100611/https://www.undp.org.in/dmweb/hazardprofile.pdf |archive-date=19 May 2006}}</ref> The region is traversed by the Delhi–Haridwar Ridge and the Delhi–Moradabad fault systems, which contribute to its seismic hazard, with the potential for earthquakes reaching intensity VIII on the MSK scale.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ddma.delhi.gov.in/ddma/earthquakes |title=Earthquakes |publisher=Delhi Disaster Management Authority |access-date=6 May 2026}}</ref>

=== Climate === {{See also|Climate of Delhi}} Delhi features a dry winter humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cwa''), closely bordering a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen ''BSh''). The warm season lasts from Mid-Late March to mid-late June with an average daily high temperature above {{convert|39|C|abbr=on}}. The hottest day of the year is usually in late May, with an average high of {{convert|42|C|abbr=on}} and a low of {{convert|27|C|abbr=on}}.<ref name=weatherspark>{{cite web |title=Average weather for New Delhi, India |url=https://weatherspark.com/averages/33934/New-Delhi-India |publisher=Weatherspark.com |access-date=2 July 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130816202008/https://weatherspark.com/averages/33934/New-Delhi-India |archive-date=16 August 2013}}</ref> The cold season lasts from late November to late February with an average daily high temperature below {{convert|20|C|abbr=on}}. The coldest day of the year is usually in January, with an average low of {{convert|6.9|C|abbr=on}} and a high of {{convert|19.3|C|abbr=on}}.<ref name=weatherspark /> In early March, the wind direction changes from north-westerly to south-westerly. From April to October, the weather is hot. The monsoon arrives at the end of June, along with an increase in humidity.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} The brief, mild winter starts in late November, peaks in January, and heavy fog often occurs.<ref name=Fog>{{cite news |url=https://www.hindu.com/2005/01/07/stories/2005010719480300.htm |title=Fog continues to disrupt flights, trains |date=7 January 2005 |location=Chennai |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060304160457/https://www.hindu.com/2005/01/07/stories/2005010719480300.htm |work=The Hindu |archive-date=4 March 2006}}</ref> Delhi receives an average annual precipitation of {{Convert|774.4|mm|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Agarwal |first1=Priyangi |date=20 August 2023 |title=4 months left, Delhi crosses annual rain quota |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/4-mths-left-city-crosses-annual-rain-quota/articleshow/102865895.cms |newspaper=The Times of India |access-date=10 December 2023 |archive-date=10 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210042216/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/4-mths-left-city-crosses-annual-rain-quota/articleshow/102865895.cms |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{Clear}}

<div class="center">{{Delhi weatherbox}}</div>

=== Air pollution === {{See also|Environmental issues in Delhi|Air pollution in Delhi}} thumb|A dense toxic smog in Delhi blocking out the sun, November 2017

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Delhi was the most polluted<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/delhi-has-dirtiest-air-china-data-foggy-who/article1-1216605.aspx |title=Delhi is most polluted city in world, Beijing much better: WHO study |work=Hindustan Times |access-date=8 May 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508004750/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/delhi-has-dirtiest-air-china-data-foggy-who/article1-1216605.aspx |archive-date=8 May 2014 }}</ref> city in the world in 2014. In 2016, the WHO downgraded Delhi to the eleventh-worst in the urban air quality database.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.digital-development-debates.org/issue-18-cities--delhi--fancy-schemes-for-a-dirty-business.html|title=Fancy Schemes for a Dirty Business|last=Kumar|first=Rahul|date=July 2016|website=Digital Development Debates|access-date=5 September 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915234747/https://www.digital-development-debates.org/issue-18-cities--delhi--fancy-schemes-for-a-dirty-business.html|archive-date=15 September 2016}}</ref> However, as recently as 2022, data from the WHO and IQAir, among other groups, ranked Delhi as the fourth most-polluted city globally.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Blinns |first1=Rob |date=5 September 2023 |title=Most polluted cities in the world {{!}} The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/advisor/solar-panels/polluted-cities-in-the-world |work=Independent Advisor |access-date=12 March 2024 |archive-date=12 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312131052/https://www.independent.co.uk/advisor/solar-panels/polluted-cities-in-the-world |url-status=live }}</ref> According to one estimate, air pollution causes the death of about 10,500 people every year.<ref name="TimePollution">{{cite magazine |url=https://world.time.com/2014/02/10/smog-in-new-delhi/ |title=Delhi's Air Has Become a Lethal Hazard and Nobody Seems to Know What to Do About It |magazine=Time |access-date=10 February 2014 |date=10 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302085642/https://world.time.com/2014/02/10/smog-in-new-delhi/ |archive-date=2 March 2014 }}</ref><ref name="VOAPollution">{{cite web |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/indias-air-pollution-triggers-comparisons-with-china/1855331.html |title=India's Air Pollution Triggers Comparisons with China |date=20 February 2014 |publisher=Voice of America |access-date=20 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221104928/https://www.voanews.com/content/indias-air-pollution-triggers-comparisons-with-china/1855331.html |archive-date=21 February 2014 }}</ref><ref name="EconomistPollution">{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/11/air-pollution-india|title=A Delhi particular|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=6 November 2012|date=6 November 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106114416/https://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/11/air-pollution-india|archive-date=6 November 2012}}</ref> The air quality index is generally moderate (101–200) between January and September, and then it drastically deteriorates to Very Poor (301–400), Severe (401–500) or Hazardous (500+) levels between October and December,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chaman |first1=Vishakha |last2=Pal |first2=Ayantika |title=Out of here in November: In Delhi-NCR, smog break is becoming the new annual vacation |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/out-of-here-in-november-in-del-ncr-smog-break-is-becoming-the-new-annual-vacation/articleshow/104979257.cms |access-date=5 November 2023 |work=The Times of India |date=5 November 2023 |archive-date=5 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105062436/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/out-of-here-in-november-in-del-ncr-smog-break-is-becoming-the-new-annual-vacation/articleshow/104979257.cms |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Delhi AQI: CP Smog tower down due to DPCC, says minister Gopal Rai; official says running cost high |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-aqi-cp-smog-tower-down-due-to-dpcc-says-minister-gopal-rai-official-says-running-cost-high/articleshow/104978284.cms |access-date=5 November 2023 |work=The Times of India |date=5 November 2023 |archive-date=5 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105062840/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-aqi-cp-smog-tower-down-due-to-dpcc-says-minister-gopal-rai-official-says-running-cost-high/articleshow/104978284.cms |url-status=live }}</ref> due to various factors, including stubble burning (a type of biomass burning), firecracker-burning during Diwali, and cold weather.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/day-after-diwali-delhis-air-turns-hazardous/articleshow/66539912.cms|title=Pollution level in Delhi: Day after Diwali, Delhi's air turns 'hazardous'|website=The Times of India|date=8 November 2018 |access-date=8 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108173945/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/day-after-diwali-delhis-air-turns-hazardous/articleshow/66539912.cms|archive-date=8 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-breathed-easier-from-january-to-april/articleshow/59011204.cms|title=Delhi breathed easier from January to April|website=The Times of India|date=6 June 2017 |access-date=8 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109070658/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-breathed-easier-from-january-to-april/articleshow/59011204.cms|archive-date=9 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/air-pollution-delhi-enjoys-cleanest-february-in-three-years/story-SANlmslHev8ifFgZbh3WXI.html|title=Air pollution: Delhi enjoys cleanest February in three years|date=27 February 2018|access-date=8 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109070735/https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/air-pollution-delhi-enjoys-cleanest-february-in-three-years/story-SANlmslHev8ifFgZbh3WXI.html|archive-date=9 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> During 2013–14, peak levels of fine particulate matter (PM) increased by about 44%, primarily due to high vehicular and industrial emissions, construction work and crop burning in adjoining states.<ref name="TimePollution" /><ref name="WSJPollution">{{cite news |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/02/15/how-crop-burning-affects-delhis-air-pollution/ |title=How Crop Burning Affects Delhi's Air |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=15 February 2014 |date=15 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306041835/https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/02/15/how-crop-burning-affects-delhis-air-pollution/ |archive-date=6 March 2014 }}</ref><ref name="GARDINER, 25 January 14">{{cite news |last=Harris |first=Gardiner |title=Beijing's Bad Air Would Be Step Up for Smoggy Delhi |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/world/asia/beijings-air-would-be-step-up-for-smoggy-delhi.html |access-date=27 January 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=25 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103045801/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/world/asia/beijings-air-would-be-step-up-for-smoggy-delhi.html |archive-date=3 November 2014 }}</ref><ref name="BEARAK, 8 feb">{{cite news |last=Bearak |first=Max |title=Desperate for Clean Air, Delhi Residents Experiment with Solutions |url=https://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/desperate-for-clean-air-delhi-residents-experiment-with-solutions/?emc=edit_tnt_20140208&tntemail0=y |access-date=8 February 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=7 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222171648/https://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/desperate-for-clean-air-delhi-residents-experiment-with-solutions/?emc=edit_tnt_20140208&tntemail0=y |archive-date=22 February 2014 }}</ref> Delhi has the highest level of airborne PM2.5—considered most harmful to health—with 153 micrograms per million.<ref>{{cite news |author=Madison Park |title=Top 20 most polluted cities in the world |url=https://www.cnn.com/2014/05/08/world/asia/india-pollution-who/index.html |publisher=CNN |date=8 May 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508104416/https://www.cnn.com/2014/05/08/world/asia/india-pollution-who/index.html |archive-date=8 May 2016 }}</ref>

Rising air pollution levels have significantly increased lung-related ailments (especially asthma and lung cancer) among Delhi's children and women.<ref name="TodayPollution">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/pollution-in-delhi-cng-children-in-delhi-182151-2014-02-21 |title=Children in Delhi have lungs of chain-smokers! |magazine=India Today |access-date=22 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302000403/https://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/pollution-in-delhi-cng-children-in-delhi/1/344904.html |archive-date=2 March 2014 }}</ref><ref name="DNAPollution">{{cite web |url=https://www.dnaindia.com/health/report-pollution-increasing-lung-cancer-in-indian-women-1959054 |title=Pollution increasing lung cancer in Indian women |date=3 February 2014 |publisher=DNA |access-date=3 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305181411/https://www.dnaindia.com/health/report-pollution-increasing-lung-cancer-in-indian-women-1959054 |archive-date=5 March 2014 }}</ref> The dense smog and haze during winter results in major air and rail traffic disruptions every year.<ref name="ReutersPollution">{{cite news |url=https://in.reuters.com/article/india-delhi-winter-smog-idINDEE9BH0D420131218 |title=Delhi blanketed in thick smog, transport disrupted |work=Reuters |access-date=18 December 2013 |date=18 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220012916/https://in.reuters.com/article/2013/12/18/india-delhi-winter-smog-idINDEE9BH0D420131218 |archive-date=20 December 2013 }}</ref> According to Indian meteorologists, the average maximum temperature during winters has declined notably since 1998 due to rising air pollution.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 January 2014 |title=January days getting colder, tied to rise in pollution |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/January-days-getting-colder-tied-to-rise-in-pollution/articleshow/29429495.cms |url-status=live |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904034839/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/January-days-getting-colder-tied-to-rise-in-pollution/articleshow/29429495.cms |archive-date=4 September 2015 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref>

India's Ministry of Earth Sciences published a research paper in October 2018 attributing almost 41% of PM2.5 air pollution in Delhi to vehicular emissions, 21.5% to dust/fire and 18% to industries.<ref name=MoES5>{{cite news|title=Usual suspects: Vehicles, industrial emissions behind foul play|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/usual-suspects-vehicles-industrial-emissions-behind-foul-play-all-year/articleshow/66228517.cms|access-date=18 December 2018|work=The Times of India|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228212103/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/usual-suspects-vehicles-industrial-emissions-behind-foul-play-all-year/articleshow/66228517.cms|archive-date=28 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> The director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) alleged that the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) is lobbied "against the report" because it was "inconvenient" to the automobile industry.<ref name=CSE>{{cite news|title=UA vicious nexus|url=https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/air/a-vicious-nexus-62475|access-date=18 December 2018|work=Down to Earth|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181213162118/https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/air/a-vicious-nexus-62475|archive-date=13 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Environmentalists have also criticised the Delhi government for not doing enough to curb air pollution and to inform people about air quality issues.<ref name="VOAPollution" /> In 2014, an environmental panel appealed to India's Supreme Court to impose a 30% cess on diesel cars, but till date no action has been taken to penalise the automobile industry.<ref>{{Cite news |date=11 February 2014 |title=Impose 30% cess on diesel cars, panel tells Supreme Court |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/pollution/Impose-30-cess-on-diesel-cars-panel-tells-Supreme-Court/articleshow/30180391.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304004249/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/pollution/Impose-30-cess-on-diesel-cars-panel-tells-Supreme-Court/articleshow/30180391.cms |archive-date=4 March 2014 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref>

Most Delhi residents are unaware of the alarming levels of air pollution in the city and the health risks associated with it.<ref name="GARDINER, 25 January 14" /><ref name="BEARAK, 8 feb" /> In 2020, annual average PM2.5 in the city stood at 107.6&nbsp;μg/m³, which is almost 21.5 times the WHO's PM2.5 Guideline (5&nbsp;μg/m³; set in September 2021).<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=The Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) |url=https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/the-index/ |access-date=6 September 2022 |website=AQLI |language=en |archive-date=20 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820013309/https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/the-index/ |url-status=live }}</ref> These pollution levels are estimated to reduce the life expectancy of an average person living in Delhi by almost 10.1 years.<ref name="auto"/>

However, {{As of|2015|lc=y}}, awareness, particularly among the foreign diplomatic community and high-income Indians, was noticeably increasing.<ref name="NYT021415">{{cite news|author1=Gardiner Harris|title=Delhi Wakes Up to an Air Pollution Problem It Cannot Ignore|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/world/asia/delhi-wakes-up-to-an-air-pollution-problem-it-cannot-ignore.html|access-date=15 February 2015|work=The New York Times|date=14 February 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215042638/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/world/asia/delhi-wakes-up-to-an-air-pollution-problem-it-cannot-ignore.html|archive-date=15 February 2015}}</ref> Since the mid-1990s, Delhi has undertaken some measures to curb air pollution—it has the third-highest quantity of trees among Indian cities;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/delhi_third_greenest_city.php |title=Delhi 'third greenest' city |publisher=Ndtv.com |access-date=11 March 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110213062310/https://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/delhi_third_greenest_city.php |archive-date=13 February 2011 }}</ref> the Delhi Transport Corporation operates the world's largest fleet of environmentally friendly compressed natural gas (CNG) buses.<ref name="cities.expressindia.com">{{cite web|url=https://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=85665 |title=Express India |work=The Indian Express |access-date=11 March 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101231054504/https://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=85665 |archive-date=31 December 2010 }}</ref> In 1996, the CSE started a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court of India that ordered the conversion of Delhi's fleet of buses and taxis to run on CNG and banned the use of leaded petrol in 1998. In 2003, Delhi won the United States Department of Energy's first 'Clean Cities International Partner of the Year' award for its "bold efforts to curb air pollution and support alternative fuel initiatives".<ref name="cities.expressindia.com" /> The Delhi Metro has also been credited for significantly reducing air pollutants in the city.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 April 2013 |title=Delhi Metro helps reduce vehicular air pollution, indicates research |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/delhi-metro-helps-reduce-vehicular-air-pollution-delhi-school-of-economics-160315-2013-04-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301231933/https://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/delhi-metro-helps-reduce-vehicular-air-pollution-delhi-school-of-economics/1/268105.html |archive-date=1 March 2014 |access-date= |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref>

However, according to several authors, most of these gains have been lost, especially due to stubble burning, a rise in the market share of diesel cars, and a considerable decline in bus ridership.<ref name="kumari">{{cite journal |author1=R. Kumari |author2=A.K. Attri |author3=L. Int Panis |author4=B.R. Gurjar |title=Emission estimates of Particulate Matter and Heavy Metals from Mobile sources in Delhi (India) |journal=Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=127–142 |date=April 2013 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259827470 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108235156/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259827470_Emission_estimates_of_Particulate_Matter_and_Heavy_Metals_from_Mobile_Sources_in_Delhi |archive-date=8 November 2014 |pmid= 25464689}}</ref><ref name="CSEPollution">{{cite web |url=https://cseindia.org/node/835 |title=What is the status of air pollution in Delhi? |publisher=CSE, India |access-date=2 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301185410/https://cseindia.org/node/835 |archive-date=1 March 2014 }}</ref> According to CSE and System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), burning of agricultural waste in nearby Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh regions results in severe intensification of smog over Delhi.<ref name="ETTPollution">{{cite news |url=https://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-11-06/news/55835957_1_pm-2-5-level-air-quality-weather-forecasting-pollution-levels |title=Delhi's air quality deteriorating due to burning of agriculture waste |newspaper=The Economic Times |date=6 November 2014 |access-date=8 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111083702/https://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-11-06/news/55835957_1_pm-2-5-level-air-quality-weather-forecasting-pollution-levels |archive-date=11 November 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="CSE2Pollution">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/smog-delhi-winter-low-wind-speed-emissions-225394-2014-11-01 |title=Thick blanket of smog envelopes Delhi, northern India |magazine=India Today |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105070407/https://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/smog-delhi-winter-low-wind-speed-emissions/1/398601.html |archive-date=5 November 2014 }}</ref>

Delhi has been ranked 7th best "National Clean Air City" (under Category 1 >10L Population cities) in India according to 'Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2024 Results' <ref>{{Cite web |date=7 September 2024 |title=Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2024 |url=https://prana.cpcb.gov.in/ncapServices/robust/fetchFilesFromDrive/Swachh_Vayu_Survekshan_2024_Result.pdf |website=Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2024 |access-date=19 September 2024 |archive-date=14 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240914164336/https://prana.cpcb.gov.in/ncapServices/robust/fetchFilesFromDrive/Swachh_Vayu_Survekshan_2024_Result.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

According to the World Air Quality Report 2024, Delhi remains the world's most polluted capital city.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Delhi is most polluted city globally; 13 of world's 20 most polluted cities in India: report |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/13-of-worlds-20-most-polluted-cities-in-india-delhi-most-polluted-capital/article69316060.ece |work=The Hindu |agency=PTI |issn=0971-751X |date=11 March 2025 |access-date=16 March 2025}}</ref>

== Civic administration == {{See also|List of districts of Delhi|List of neighbourhoods of Delhi|List of towns in National Capital Territory of Delhi}} thumb|Map of the three municipal corporations of Delhi thumb|Map of the former six municipal corporations of Delhi (2011–2022) Currently, the NCT of Delhi is made up of one division, 11 districts, 33 subdivisions, 59&nbsp;census towns, and 300&nbsp;villages.<ref>{{cite book|author=M.S.A. Rao|title=Urbanization and Social Change: A Study of a Rural Community on a Metropolitan Fringe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPMEAAAAMAAJ|year=1970|publisher=Orient Longmans|access-date=28 November 2017|archive-date=3 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303170044/https://books.google.com/books?id=tPMEAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> On the other hand, the NCT of Delhi is divided into three municipalities. The boundaries of municipalities may be different from district boundaries: # Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which occupies an area of {{Convert|1397.3|km2|abbr=on}} and is sub-divided into 12 zones, that is, Centre, South, West, Najafgarh, Rohini, Civil Lines, Karol Bagh, SP-City, Keshavpuram, Narela, Shahdara North and Shahdara South.<ref name="mcdonline">{{Cite web |title=Municipal Corporation of Delhi |url=https://mcdonline.nic.in/ |access-date=22 May 2022 |website=mcdonline.nic.in |archive-date=21 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521215755/https://mcdonline.nic.in/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Shelly Oberoi, is the current mayor of the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi since 2023.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=AAP's Shelly Oberoi wins, Delhi gets new mayor after 75 days, Kejriwal says 'goons' lost {{!}} LIVE |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/story/delhi-mcd-mayor-election-live-updates-aap-bjp-ruckus-fourth-attempt-2337981-2023-02-22 |magazine=India Today |date=22 February 2023 |access-date=23 January 2024 |archive-date=23 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123145457/https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/story/delhi-mcd-mayor-election-live-updates-aap-bjp-ruckus-fourth-attempt-2337981-2023-02-22 |url-status=live }}</ref> # New Delhi Municipality, which occupies an area of {{Convert|42.7|km2|abbr=on}} # Delhi Cantonment, which occupies an area of {{Convert|42.3|km2|abbr=on}}

Between 13 January 2011 and 22 May 2022, MCD was divided into three municipal corporations:<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/delhi-govt-decides-to-split-mcd-into-three-parts/article2062613.ece|title=Delhi govt decides to split MCD into three parts|agency=Press Trust of India|date=30 May 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728090021/https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/delhi-govt-decides-to-split-mcd-into-three-parts/article2062613.ece|archive-date=28 July 2013}}</ref> # South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) had jurisdiction over South and West Delhi areas, including Mahipalpur, Rajouri Garden, Uttam Nagar, Badarpur, Jaitpur, Janakpuri, Hari Nagar, Tilak Nagar, Dwarka, Jungpura, Greater Kailash, R K Puram, Malviya Nagar, Kalkaji, Ambedkar Nagar and Pul pehladpur. # North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) had jurisdiction over areas such as Badli, Rithala, Bawana, Kirari, Mangolpuri, Tri Nagar, Model Town, Sadar Bazar, Chandni Chowk, Matia Mahal, Karol Bagh, Moti Nagar # East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) had jurisdiction over areas such as Patparganj, Kondli, Laxmi Nagar, Seemapuri, Gonda, Karawal Nagar, Babarpur and Shahadra.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/mcd-election-results-2017-counting-begins-can-kejriwal-s-aap-beat-modi-wave-in-delhi/story-xpbRonawnk8ALeqLfwjJxL.html|title=MCD results 2017: BJP rides on Modi wave; AAP routed, Kejriwal accepts defeat|author=Hindustan Ties|date=29 May 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106111359/https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/mcd-election-results-2017-counting-begins-can-kejriwal-s-aap-beat-modi-wave-in-delhi/story-xpbRonawnk8ALeqLfwjJxL.html|archive-date=6 November 2017}}</ref>

Delhi is home to the High Court of Delhi. The High Court of Delhi is the highest in the Delhi before Supreme Court. The High Court of Delhi just like the apex court and other High Courts in India is the Court of record. Delhi is also home to various District Court according to jurisdictions. Delhi have Currently seven District Courts namely Tis Hazari Court Complex, Karkardooma Court Complex, Patiala House Court Complex, Rohini Court Complex, Dwarka Courts Complex, Saket Court Complex, and Rouse Avenue Court Apart from the District Courts Delhi also have Consumer Courts, CBI Courts, Labour Courts, Revenue Courts, Army tribunals, electricity tribunals, Railway Tribunals, and other various tribunals situated according to appropriate jurisdictions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.apsinghlawyer.com/post/where-are-courts-in-delhi-situated|title=Where are Courts in Delhi Situated ?|date=14 August 2021|access-date=14 August 2021|archive-date=14 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814103138/https://www.apsinghlawyer.com/post/where-are-courts-in-delhi-situated|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://delhibarcouncil.com/resources-for-lawyers/delhi-courts/district-courts/|title=District Courts of Delhi {{pipe}} Bar Council of Delhi|access-date=14 August 2021|archive-date=13 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813021951/https://delhibarcouncil.com/resources-for-lawyers/delhi-courts/district-courts/|url-status=live}}</ref>

For policing purposes Delhi is divided into fifteen police districts which are further subdivided into 95 local police station zones. Delhi currently has 180 police stations.<ref name=policestations>{{cite web|url=https://delhigovt.nic.in/newdelhi/police.html|title=Poile Stations|access-date=19 December 2006|publisher=Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070110174612/https://delhigovt.nic.in/newdelhi/police.html|archive-date=10 January 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.delhipolice.nic.in/history.html|title=Delhi Police|access-date=14 August 2021|archive-date=14 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814104232/https://www.delhipolice.nic.in/history.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Government and politics == {{Main|Government of Delhi|Government of India}}

[[File:Delhi Vidhan Sabha.jpg|thumb|Delhi Legislative Assembly]] As a first-level administrative division, the National Capital Territory of Delhi has its own Legislative Assembly, Lieutenant Governor, the council of ministers, and Chief Minister. Members of the legislative assembly are directly elected from territorial constituencies in the NCT. The legislative assembly was abolished in 1956, after which direct federal control was implemented until it was re-established in 1993. The municipal corporation handles civic administration for the city as part of the Panchayati Raj Act. The Government of India and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi jointly administer New Delhi, where both bodies are located. The Parliament of India, the Rashtrapati Bhavan (Presidential Palace), Cabinet Secretariat, and the Supreme Court of India are located in the municipal district of New Delhi. There are 70 assembly constituencies and seven Lok Sabha (Indian Parliament's lower house) constituencies in Delhi.<ref name=assmbconst>{{cite web|url=https://www.mapsofindia.com/assemblypolls/delhi.html |title=Delhi: Assembly Constituencies |access-date=19 December 2006 |publisher=Compare Infobase Limited |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070101060414/https://www.mapsofindia.com/assemblypolls/delhi.html |archive-date=1 January 2007 }}</ref><ref name=loksabhaconst>{{cite news|title=Lok Sabha constituencies get a new profile|url=https://www.hindu.com/2006/09/07/stories/2006090710630400.htm|date=7 September 2006|access-date=19 December 2006|location=Chennai|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070104221526/https://www.hindu.com/2006/09/07/stories/2006090710630400.htm|work=The Hindu|archive-date=4 January 2007}}</ref>

In the first legislative assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Madan Lal Khurana, came to power.<ref name="POD">{{cite web|title=Politics of Delhi|url=https://www.indfy.com/delhi/politics.html|publisher=INDFY|access-date=17 May 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424064032/https://www.indfy.com/delhi/politics.html|archive-date=24 April 2012}}</ref> In 1998, the Congress came to power under the leadership of Sheila Dikshit, who was subsequently re-elected for 3 consecutive terms. But in 2013, the Congress was ousted from power by the newly formed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Arvind Kejriwal forming the government with outside support from the Congress. This was despite the Bharatiya Janata Party winning a plurity.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-12-23/news/45510175_1_aap-arvind-kejriwal-aam-aadmi-party|title=Arvind Kejriwal to be Delhi Chief Minister, swearing-in at Ramleela Maidan|work=The Economic Times |access-date=28 July 2015|date=23 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511044516/https://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-12-23/news/45510175_1_aap-arvind-kejriwal-aam-aadmi-party|archive-date=11 May 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, that government was short-lived, collapsing only after 49 days.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/arvind-kejriwal-quits-over-jan-lokpal/article5688528.ece|title=Arvind Kejriwal quits over Jan Lokpal|author1=Mohammad Ali|author2=Vishal Kant|author3=Sowmiya Ashok|work=The Hindu|access-date=28 July 2015|location=Chennai|date=14 February 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016060813/https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/arvind-kejriwal-quits-over-jan-lokpal/article5688528.ece|archive-date=16 October 2015}}</ref> Delhi was then under President's rule until February 2015,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Presidents-rule-imposed-in-Delhi/articleshow/30558345.cms|title=President's rule imposed in Delhi|work=The Times of India|access-date=28 July 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150719135440/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Presidents-rule-imposed-in-Delhi/articleshow/30558345.cms|archive-date=19 July 2015}}</ref> after which AAP returned to power after a landslide victory, winning 67 out of the 70 seats in the Delhi Legislative Assembly.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/delhi-elections-aam-aadmi-party-sweeps-to-victory-1423535589|title=Upstart Party Wins India State Elections – WSJ|author=Niharika Mandhana|date=10 February 2015|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=28 July 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150809100429/https://www.wsj.com/articles/delhi-elections-aam-aadmi-party-sweeps-to-victory-1423535589|archive-date=9 August 2015}}</ref> AAP has held power until Feb 2025.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/election-results-2020-live-delhi-assembly-hatrick-for-arvind-kejriwal-aap-bjp-10-points-2178126|title=Delhi Election Results 2020: The Mega Victory Of Arvind Kejriwal|work=NDTV|access-date=16 May 2023|archive-date=16 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230516062038/https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/election-results-2020-live-delhi-assembly-hatrick-for-arvind-kejriwal-aap-bjp-10-points-2178126|url-status=live}}</ref> Following assembly elections in 2025, BJP came to power with an outright majority.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Rekha Gupta Takes Oath: A Look At Delhi Chief Minister's Wealth |url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/rekha-gupta-takes-oath-a-look-at-delhi-chief-ministers-wealth-7752493 |work=NDTV |date=20 February 2025 |access-date=20 February 2025}}</ref>

== Economy == {{Main|Economy of Delhi}}

{{multiple image | align = left | perrow = 2 | total_width = 400 | caption_align = center | image1 = Dry fruits being sold at Khari Baoli market in Old Delhi.jpg | caption1 = The Khari Baoli market in Old Delhi is one of the oldest and busiest in the city. | image2 = Connaught Place New Delhi.jpg | caption2 = Connaught Place in New Delhi is an important economic hub of the National Capital Region. }}

Delhi is the largest commercial center in northern India. {{As of|2016}} recent estimates of the economy of the Delhi urban area have ranged from $370&nbsp;billion to $400&nbsp;billion (PPP metro GDP) ranking it either the most or second-most productive metro area of India.<ref name=gdp>*{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/delhi-not-mumbai-indias-economic-capital/articleshow/55655582.cms|title=Delhi, not Mumbai, India's economic capital|work=The Times of India|author=Clara Lewis|date=28 November 2016|access-date=11 September 2023}} *{{Cite web |date=3 June 2017 |title=Mumbai 17th in global GDP list, says survey |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/mumbai-17th-in-global-gdp-list-says-survey-4686508/ |access-date=16 September 2021 |website=The Indian Express |language=en |archive-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020011629/https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/mumbai-17th-in-global-gdp-list-says-survey-4686508/ |url-status=live }} * {{cite web|title=Global city GDP 2014|url=https://www.brookings.edu/research/global-metro-monitor/|publisher=Brookings Institution|date=22 January 2015|access-date=4 March 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525113815/https://www.brookings.edu/research/global-metro-monitor/|archive-date=25 May 2017}} * {{cite web|title=Global city GDP rankings 2008–2025|url=https://www.ukmediacentre.pwc.com/imagelibrary/downloadMedia.ashx?MediaDetailsID=1562|publisher=PwC|access-date=16 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504031739/https://www.ukmediacentre.pwc.com/imagelibrary/downloadMedia.ashx?MediaDetailsID=1562|archive-date=4 May 2011}} * {{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/08/13/the_most_dynamic_cities_of_2025|title=The Most Dynamic Cities of 2025|work=Foreign Policy|access-date=24 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828041241/https://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/08/13/the_most_dynamic_cities_of_2025|archive-date=28 August 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=metrogdp>{{cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.in/mumbai-is-no-more-the-financial-capital-of-india/articleshow/55667112.cms|title=Mumbai is no more the financial capital of India|publisher=Business Insider India|date=28 November 2016|access-date=13 August 2020|archive-date=12 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112000305/https://www.businessinsider.in/Mumbai-is-no-more-the-financial-capital-of-India/articleshow/55667112.cms|url-status=live}}</ref> The nominal GSDP of the NCT of Delhi for 2016–17 was estimated at {{INRConvert|6224|b}}, 13% higher than in 2015–16.<ref name="Budget Analysis">{{cite web|title=Delhi Budget Analysis 2017–18|url=https://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/State%20Budget%202017-18/Delhi%20Budget%20Analysis%202017-18.pdf|website=PRS Legislative Research|access-date=10 March 2017|date=8 March 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312041800/https://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/State%20Budget%202017-18/Delhi%20Budget%20Analysis%202017-18.pdf|archive-date=12 March 2017}}</ref> Oxford Economics Global Cities index 2024 ranked Delhi as best city in India and 108th best city in the world in Economics Category.

As per the Economic survey of Delhi (2005–2006), the tertiary sector contributes 70.95% of Delhi's gross SDP followed by secondary and primary sectors with 25.20% and 3.85% contributions, respectively.<ref name=ecosurv2>{{cite web|url=https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/2.pdf|title=Chapter 2: State Income|work=Economic Survey of Delhi, 2005–06|publisher=Planning Department, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi|pages=8–16|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614085129/https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/2.pdf|archive-date=14 June 2007}}</ref> Delhi's workforce constitutes 32.82% of the population, and increased by 52.52% between 1991 and 2001.<ref name=ecosurv5>{{cite web|url=https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/5.pdf|title=Chapter 5: Employment and Unemployment|work=Economic Survey of Delhi, 2005–06|publisher=Planning Department, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi|pages=59–65|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215013210/https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/5.pdf|archive-date=15 February 2016}}</ref> Delhi's unemployment rate decreased from 12.57% in 1999–2000 to 4.63% in 2003.<ref name=ecosurv5 /> In December 2004, 636,000 people were registered with various employment exchange programmes in Delhi.<ref name=ecosurv5 />

In 2018 the total workforce in national and state governments and the quasi-government sector was 594,000, and the private sector employed 273,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://delhiplanning.delhi.gov.in/sites/default/files/Planning/ch._21_employment_and_unemployment.pdf|title=Chapter 21: Employment and Unemployment|work=Economic Survey of Delhi, 2022-23|publisher=Planning Department, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi|access-date=25 May 2023|archive-date=23 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230523224251/https://delhiplanning.delhi.gov.in/sites/default/files/Planning/ch._21_employment_and_unemployment.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Key service industries are information technology, telecommunications, hotels, banking, media and tourism.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mapsofindia.com/delhi/industries-in-delhi.html |title=Industries in Delhi |publisher=Mapsofindia.com |access-date=7 September 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503223007/https://www.mapsofindia.com/delhi/industries-in-delhi.html |archive-date=3 May 2012 }}</ref> Construction, power, health and community services and real estate are also important to the city's economy. Delhi has one of India's largest and fastest growing retail industries.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Hotels__Restaurants/Delhi_Indias_hot_favourite_retail_destination/rssarticleshow/2983387.cms |title=Delhi hot favourite retail destination in India&nbsp;– Corporate Trends&nbsp;– News By Company -News |work=The Economic Times |access-date=3 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007010541/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Hotels__Restaurants/Delhi_Indias_hot_favourite_retail_destination/rssarticleshow/2983387.cms |archive-date= 7 October 2013 }}</ref> Manufacturing also grew considerably as consumer goods companies established manufacturing units and headquarters in the city. Delhi's large consumer market and the availability of skilled labour has also attracted foreign investment. In 2001, the manufacturing sector employed 1,440,000 workers and the city had 129,000 industrial units.<ref name=ecosurv9>{{cite web|url=https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/9.pdf|title=Chapter 9: Industrial Development|work=Economic Survey of Delhi, 2005–06|publisher=Planning Department, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi|pages=94–107|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614085148/https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/9.pdf|archive-date=14 June 2007}}</ref>

== Utility services == {{See also|Bhalswa landfill}} Delhi's municipal water supply is managed by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). {{As of|2025|Nov}}, it supplies 900&nbsp;million gallons per day (MGD).<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 February 2019 |title=Delhi Jal board looking for ways to supply water all day long |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/delhi-jal-board-looking-for-ways-of-providing-24-hour-uninterrupted-water-supply/story-U1d8MIWNDG0w8SQyaE2UHI.html |access-date=8 November 2025 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref> The shortfall is met by private and public tube wells and hand pumps. At 240&nbsp;MGD, the Bhakra storage is DJB's largest water source, followed by the Yamuna and Ganges rivers. Delhi's groundwater level is falling and its population density is increasing, so residents often encounter acute water shortage.<ref name="ecosurv13">{{cite web |title=Chapter 13: Water Supply and Sewerage |url=https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/13.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614203642/https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/13.pdf |archive-date=14 June 2007 |access-date=21 December 2006 |work=Economic Survey of Delhi, 2005–2006 |publisher=Planning Department, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi |pages=147–162}}</ref> Research on Delhi suggests that up to half of the city's water use is unofficial groundwater.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.digital-development-debates.org/issue-18-cities--delhi--unequal-unreliable-and-running-out.html|title=Unequal, Unreliable and Running Out|last=Birkinshaw|first=Matt|date=July 2016|website=Digital Development Debates|access-date=5 September 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915231848/https://www.digital-development-debates.org/issue-18-cities--delhi--unequal-unreliable-and-running-out.html|archive-date=15 September 2016}}</ref><br />In Delhi, daily domestic solid waste production is 8000&nbsp;tonnes which is dumped at three landfill locations by MCD.<ref name="hinduwaste">{{cite news |first=Sandeep |last=Joshi |title=MCD developing new landfill site |url=https://www.hindu.com/2006/06/19/stories/2006061915630400.htm |date=19 June 2006 |access-date=19 December 2006 |location=Chennai|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061119091230/https://www.hindu.com/2006/06/19/stories/2006061915630400.htm |work=The Hindu |archive-date=19 November 2006 }}</ref> The daily domestic waste water production is 470&nbsp;MGD and industrial waste water is 70&nbsp;MGD.<ref name=Delhirisks>{{cite web|url=https://www.gisdevelopment.net/application/natural_hazards/overview/nho0019pf.htm|title=Risks in Delhi: Environmental concerns|access-date=19 December 2006|last=Gadhok|first=Taranjot Kaur|work=Natural Hazard Management|publisher=GISdevelopment.net|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512093110/https://www.gisdevelopment.net/application/natural_hazards/overview/nho0019pf.htm|archive-date=12 May 2012}}</ref> A large portion of the sewage flows untreated into the Yamuna river.<ref name=Delhirisks />

The city's electricity consumption is about 1,265&nbsp;kWh per capita but the actual demand is higher.<ref name=ecosurv11>{{cite web|url=https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/11.pdf|title=Chapter 11: Energy|access-date=21 December 2006|work=Economic Survey of Delhi, 2005–06|publisher=Planning Department, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi|pages=117–129|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614203731/https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/11.pdf|archive-date=14 June 2007}}</ref> In Delhi power distribution is managed by TPDDL and BSES Yamuna & BSES Rajdhani since 2002, transmission of power is done by Delhi Transco Limited and Powergrid, while generation of power is by IPGCL and PPCL. The city also imports a significant quantum of power from other states.<ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Vision Document of Power Department for Master Plan - 2041 |url=https://power.delhi.gov.in/sites/default/files/power/circulars-orders/vision_doc_mpd-2041.pdf |website=power.delhi.gov.in |location= |publisher= |page=2 |quote=The total installed capacity is 7479.01&nbsp;MW. Out of the total installed capacity, 78% is purchased from sources outside of Delhi such as Dadri (1574&nbsp;MW), NHPC (478&nbsp;MW), Jhajjar at Haryana (693&nbsp;MW), DVC at West Bengal (675&nbsp;MW), THDC at Uttaranchal (102&nbsp;MW), Nathpa Jhakri HEP (142&nbsp;MW), Allocation through bi-lateral agreements (1119&nbsp;MW), etc. |access-date=11 April 2026}}</ref>

The Delhi Fire Service runs 43 fire stations that attend about 15,000 fire and rescue calls per year.<ref name="dfs">{{cite web|url=https://dfs.delhigovt.nic.in/aboutf.html|title=About Us|access-date=9 January 2007|work=Delhi Fire Service|publisher=Govt. of NCT of Delhi|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070122143240/https://dfs.delhigovt.nic.in/aboutf.html|archive-date=22 January 2007}}</ref> The state-owned MTNL and private enterprises such as Airtel, Vi, Jio provide telephone and cell phone services to the city. Cellular coverage is available in GSM, 3G, 4G, 4G+ and 5G.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}

== Transport == {{Main|Transport in Delhi}}

=== Air === [[File:Mudras at Indira Gandhi Delhi 1007.jpg|thumb| alt= Shown here is the check-in counter at Terminal 3 of the airport.|Indira Gandhi International Airport's immigration counter in Terminal 3<ref>{{cite web |url=https://airport-delhi.com/ |title=Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) |publisher=Airport-delhi.com |date=2 May 1986 |access-date=7 September 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516020135/https://airport-delhi.com/ |archive-date=16 May 2012 }}</ref>]] Indira Gandhi International Airport, situated to the south-west of Delhi, is the main gateway for the city's domestic and international civilian air traffic. In 2015–16, the airport handled more than 48&nbsp;million passengers,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aai.aero/traffic_news/Mar2k16annex3.pdf|format=jsp|title=Traffic Statistics – Domestic & International Passengers|publisher=Airports Authority of India|access-date=5 May 2016|page=3|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527102138/https://www.aai.aero/traffic_news/Mar2k16annex3.pdf|archive-date=27 May 2016}}</ref> making it the busiest airport in India and South Asia. Terminal 3, which cost {{INRConvert|96.8|b}} to construct between 2007 and 2010, handles an additional 37&nbsp;million passengers annually.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\18\story_18-2-2007_pg5_24 |title=India begins $1.94b Delhi airport revamp |work=Daily Times|location=Pakistan |date=18 February 2007 |access-date=3 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116121748/https://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C02%5C18%5Cstory_18-2-2007_pg5_24 |archive-date=16 January 2009 }}</ref> In 2010, IGIA was conferred the 4th best airport award in the world in the 15–25&nbsp;million category, by Airports Council International. The airport was rated as the ''Best airport in the world'' in the 25–40&nbsp;million passengers category in 2015, by Airports Council International. Delhi Airport was awarded ''The Best Airport in Central Asia'' and ''Best Airport Staff in Central Asia'' at the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/indira-gandhi-international-airport-is-worlds-best-airport-for-second-time-in-row-311345-2016-03-02|title=Indira Gandhi International Airport is world's best airport for second time in row|date=2 March 2016|website=India Today|language=en|access-date=5 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026101228/https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/indira-gandhi-international-airport-is-worlds-best-airport-for-second-time-in-row-311345-2016-03-02|archive-date=26 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aci.aero/cda/aci_common/display/main/aci_content07_c.jsp?zn=aci&cp=1-7-46%5E35015_666_2__|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512200746/https://www.aci.aero/cda/aci_common/display/main/aci_content07_c.jsp?zn=aci&cp=1-7-46%5E35015_666_2__|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 May 2012|title=Airports Council International|date=12 May 2012|access-date=5 October 2019}}</ref> Hindon Domestic Airport in Ghaziabad was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the second airport for the Delhi-NCR Region on 8 March 2019.<ref>{{cite news |title=PM Narendra Modi inaugurates civil enclave at Hindon airport |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/pm-narendra-modi-inaugurates-civil-enclave-at-hindon-airport/articleshow/68322539.cms |access-date=10 March 2019 |work=The Economic Times |date=8 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190313123707/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/pm-narendra-modi-inaugurates-civil-enclave-at-hindon-airport/articleshow/68322539.cms |archive-date=13 March 2019 |url-status=live |author1-link=Press Trust of India }}</ref> A second international airport open for commercial flights has been suggested either by expansion of Meerut Airport or construction of a new airport in Greater Noida.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.niticentral.com/2012/09/08/does-delhi-need-a-second-airport-yes-it-does-but-where-7054.html |title=Search |work=India News Analysis Opinions on Niti Central |access-date=28 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102193703/https://www.niticentral.com/2012/09/08/does-delhi-need-a-second-airport-yes-it-does-but-where-7054.html |archive-date= 2 January 2014 }}</ref> The Taj International Airport project in Jewar has been approved by the Uttar Pradesh government.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/jewar-airport-will-now-be-a-full-fledged-aviation-hub/articleshow/63037895.cms|title=Jewar airport will now be a full-fledged aviation hub|last=Shah|first=Pankaj|work=The Times of India|date=23 February 2018|access-date=3 March 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224052827/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/jewar-airport-will-now-be-a-full-fledged-aviation-hub/articleshow/63037895.cms|archive-date=24 February 2018}}</ref>

The ''Delhi Flying Club'', established in 1928 with two de Havilland Moth aircraft named ''Delhi'' and ''Roshanara'', was based at Safdarjung Airport which started operations in 1929, when it was the Delhi's only airport and the second in India.<ref name=mecca>{{cite news|title=Mecca for young aviators |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/Mecca-for-young-aviators/Article1-749072.aspx |work=Hindustan Times |date=23 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103054117/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Mecca-for-young-aviators/Article1-749072.aspx |archive-date=3 January 2013 }}</ref> The airport functioned until 2001; however, in January 2002 the government closed the airport for flying activities because of security concerns following the New York attacks in September 2001. Since then, the club only carries out aircraft maintenance courses and is used for helicopter rides to Indira Gandhi International Airport for VIP including the president and the prime minister.<ref name="mecca" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Ministries in row over Safdarjung Airport land |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Ministries-in-row-over-Safdarjung-Airport-land/articleshow/7964868.cms |date=13 April 2011 |access-date=17 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127185501/https://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-13/delhi/29413456_1_ud-ministry-safdarjung-airport-aviation-ministry |archive-date=27 January 2013 |work=The Times of India |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Road === {{multiple image | perrow = 2 | align = left | total_width = 400 | caption_align = center | image1 = Delhi Metro and CNG Buses in Azadpur Neighborhood.jpg | caption1 = Compressed natural gas red- and green buses have low floors; orange has standard.{{efn|The elevated Delhi metro is seen above in Azadpur.<ref name="cities.expressindia.com" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Delhi's CNG success inspiring many countries: Naik |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?gid=48&id=103516 |agency=Press Trust of India |work=outlookindia.com |publisher=Outlook Publishing (India) Private Limited |date=11 December 2002 |access-date=2 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201164114/https://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?gid=48&id=103516 |archive-date= 1 February 2009 }}</ref>}} | image2 = Old Delhi rickshaw 2011.JPG | caption2 = The cycle rickshaw and the auto rickshaw are commonly used in Delhi for travelling short distances. }}

Delhi has the highest road density of 2103&nbsp;km/100&nbsp;km² in India.<ref name="IND1">{{cite news|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/the-road-that-larger-particles-travel/ |title=The road that larger particles travel |author=Pritha Chatterjee |date=6 April 2015 |access-date=7 November 2016 |newspaper=The Indian Express |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107174952/https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/the-road-that-larger-particles-travel/ |archive-date=7 November 2016 }}</ref> It is connected to other parts of India by five National Highways: NH 1, NH 2, NH 8, NH 10 and NH 24. The Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Kolkata prongs of the Golden Quadrilateral start from the city. The majority of the city's roads which are {{Convert|60|ft|abbr=on}} wide or above are maintained by the Public Works Department (PWD)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Singh |first=Paras |date=12 April 2018 |title=Broken roads? You now know who you can call for help |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/broken-roads-you-now-know-who-you-can-call-for-help/articleshow/63720759.cms |work=The Times of India |access-date=29 October 2023 |issn=0971-8257 |archive-date=29 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029153337/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/broken-roads-you-now-know-who-you-can-call-for-help/articleshow/63720759.cms |url-status=live }}</ref> which is under the jurisdiction of the Government of Delhi while some are maintained by Delhi Development Authority and New Delhi Municipal Council<ref name="roadauth">{{cite web|url=https://www.gisdevelopment.net/proceedings/mapindia/2006/transportation/mi06tran_200.htm|title=GIS Based Maintenance Management System (GMMS) For Major Roads of Delhi|access-date=14 January 2007|author=I.Prasada Rao|author2=Dr. P.K. Kanchan|author3=Dr. P.K. Nanda|work=Map India 2006: Transportation|publisher=GISdevelopment.net|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426013600/https://www.gisdevelopment.net/proceedings/mapindia/2006/transportation/mi06tran_200.htm|archive-date=26 April 2012}}</ref> which are under the jurisdiction of the Government of India. Roads and streets less than {{Convert|60|ft|abbr=on}} wide are maintained by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Roads and streets in unauthorised colonies are maintained by the local Member of the Legislative Assembly.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Will have roads constructed in all unauthorised colonies by December 2024: Delhi CM |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/will-have-roads-constructed-in-all-unauthorised-colonies-by-december-2024-delhi-cm/article67228731.ece |work=The Hindu |date=23 August 2023 |access-date=29 October 2023 |issn=0971-751X |archive-date=29 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029153336/https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/will-have-roads-constructed-in-all-unauthorised-colonies-by-december-2024-delhi-cm/article67228731.ece |url-status=live }}</ref>

Buses are the most popular means of road transport, catering to about 60% of Delhi's total demand.<ref name="ET">{{cite web|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/delhi-traffic-chaos-costs-rs-60000-crore-annually/articleshow/56980296.cms|title=Delhi traffic chaos costs Rs 60,000 crore annually|work=The Economic Times|date=5 February 2017|access-date=23 March 2017|author=Dipak K. Dash|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324092149/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/delhi-traffic-chaos-costs-rs-60000-crore-annually/articleshow/56980296.cms|archive-date=24 March 2017}}</ref> Delhi has one of India's largest bus transport systems. In 1998, the Supreme Court of India ruled that all public transport vehicles in Delhi must be fuelled by compressed natural gas (CNG) to tackle increasing vehicular pollution.<ref name=supremelaw>{{cite web|url=https://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/articles-69423_delhi_case.pdf |title=Introduction |access-date=14 January 2007 |author=Armin Rosencranz |author2=Michael Jackson |work=The Delhi Pollution Case: The Supreme Court of India and the Limits of Judicial Power |publisher=indlaw.com |page=3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614203640/https://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/articles-69423_delhi_case.pdf |archive-date=14 June 2007 }}</ref> The state-owned Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is a major bus service provider which operates the world's largest fleet of CNG-fuelled buses.<ref name=DTC>{{cite web|url=https://dtc.nic.in/ccharter.htm|title=Citizen Charter|access-date=21 December 2006|publisher=Delhi Transport Corporation|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070110171420/https://dtc.nic.in/ccharter.htm|archive-date=10 January 2007}}</ref><ref name="ND">{{cite web|url=https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/dtc-records-highest-single-day-collection-461251|title=DTC records highest single-day collection|publisher=NDTV|date=12 July 2011|access-date=23 March 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324174140/https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/dtc-records-highest-single-day-collection-461251|archive-date=24 March 2017}}</ref> In addition, cluster scheme buses are operated by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) with the participation of private concessionaires and DTC.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/drivers-call-off-protest-buses-on-roads-today/articleshow/63349483.cms|title=Cluster buses to be back on road today|newspaper=The Times of India|date=18 March 2018|access-date=7 May 2018|place=New Delhi|agency=TNN|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180508060320/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/drivers-call-off-protest-buses-on-roads-today/articleshow/63349483.cms|archive-date=8 May 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/cabinet-sets-ball-rolling-to-procure-1000-cluster-buses/articleshow/62435884.cms|title=Cabinet sets ball rolling to procure 1,000 cluster buses|newspaper=The Times of India|date=10 January 2018|access-date=7 May 2018|place=New Delhi|agency=TNN|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507223107/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/cabinet-sets-ball-rolling-to-procure-1000-cluster-buses/articleshow/62435884.cms|archive-date=7 May 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In December 2017, the DTC and cluster buses carried over 4.19&nbsp;million passengers per day.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/upswing-in-dtccluster-buses-daily-ridership-41-90-passengers-carried-per-day-sisodia-2534241.html|title=Upswing in DTC, Cluster buses daily ridership, 41.90 passengers carried per day: Sisodia|publisher=Moneycontrol.com|agency=Press Trust of India|date=22 March 2018|access-date=7 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407181056/https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/upswing-in-dtccluster-buses-daily-ridership-41-90-passengers-carried-per-day-sisodia-2534241.html|archive-date=7 April 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Kashmiri Gate ISBT, Anand Vihar ISBT and Sarai Kale Khan ISBT are the main bus terminals for outstation buses plying to neighbouring states. Delhi's rapid rate of economic development and population growth has resulted in an increasing demand for transport, creating excessive pressure on the city's transport infrastructure. To meet the transport demand, the State and Union government constructed a mass rapid transit system, including the Delhi Metro.<ref name=ecosurv12 /> Delhi Bus Rapid Transit System runs between Ambedkar Nagar and Delhi Gate. As per February 2024, Delhi has around 1,650 electric buses managed by the Delhi Transport Corporation, the highest in India and the third highest in the world after Shenzhen and Santiago.<ref>{{Cite news |title=350 e-buses launched in Delhi, highest overall among all cities, says Kejriwal |url=https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/350-e-buses-launched-in-delhi-highest-overall-among-all-cities-says-kejriwal/107706826 |work=Economic Times |agency=PTI |date=15 February 2024 |access-date=15 February 2024 |archive-date=15 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215064621/https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/350-e-buses-launched-in-delhi-highest-overall-among-all-cities-says-kejriwal/107706826 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Delhi adds 350 more e-buses; 3rd biggest fleet in world: govt. |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/delhi-adds-350-more-e-buses-3rd-biggest-fleet-in-world-govt/article67846165.ece |work=The Hindu |date=14 February 2024 |access-date=15 February 2024 |issn=0971-751X |archive-date=14 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240214211607/https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/delhi-adds-350-more-e-buses-3rd-biggest-fleet-in-world-govt/article67846165.ece |url-status=live }}</ref>

Personal vehicles, especially cars also form a major chunk of vehicles plying on Delhi roads. {{As of|2007}}, private vehicles account for 30% of the total demand for transport.<ref name=ecosurv12>{{cite web|url=https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/12.pdf|title=Chapter 12: Transport|access-date=21 December 2006|work=Economic Survey of Delhi, 2005–2006|publisher=Planning Department, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi|pages=130–146|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070116044119/https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/12.pdf|archive-date=16 January 2007}}</ref> Delhi has the highest number of registered cars compared to any other metropolitan city in India.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/Bengaluru-retains-second-place-after-Delhi-with-most-vehicles-on-roads/articleshow/52770425.cms|title=Bengaluru retains second place after Delhi with most vehicles on roads|newspaper=The Times of India|place=Bengaluru|author=Aparajita Ray|date=16 June 2016|access-date=24 April 2018|agency=TNN|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614004506/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/Bengaluru-retains-second-place-after-Delhi-with-most-vehicles-on-roads/articleshow/52770425.cms|archive-date=14 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Taxis, auto rickshaws, and cycle rickshaws also ply on Delhi roads in large numbers. {{As of|2008}}, the number of vehicles in the metropolitan region, Delhi NCR, was 11.2&nbsp;million (11.2&nbsp;million).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.igovernment.in/site/traffic-snarl-snaps-42-cr-man-hour-from-delhi-ncr-workers/ |title=Traffic snarl snaps 42 Cr man-hour from Delhi, NCR workers at iGovernment |publisher=Igovernment.in |access-date=3 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007124559/https://www.igovernment.in/site/traffic-snarl-snaps-42-cr-man-hour-from-delhi-ncr-workers/ |archive-date=7 October 2008 }}</ref> In 2008, there were 85 cars in Delhi for every 1,000 of its residents.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Every_12th_Delhiite_owns_a_car/articleshow/2667484.cms |title=Every 12th Delhiite owns a car |work=The Economic Times |access-date=3 November 2008 |date=2 January 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308001320/https://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2008-01-02/news/28394976_1_private-cars-indian-automobile-manufacturers-indian-roads |archive-date=8 March 2012 }}</ref> In 2017, the number of vehicles in Delhi city alone crossed the ten million mark with the transport department of Delhi Government putting the total number of registered vehicles at 10,567,712 until 25 May of the year.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/auto/miscellaneous/vehicle-numbers-cross-one-crore-mark-in-delhi/articleshow/58983958.cms|title=Vehicle numbers cross one crore mark in Delhi|newspaper=The Times of India|place=New Delhi|agency=Press Trust of India|date=4 June 2017|access-date=24 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180611121604/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/auto/miscellaneous/vehicle-numbers-cross-one-crore-mark-in-delhi/articleshow/58983958.cms|archive-date=11 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Railway === [[File:New Delhi railway station 2.jpg|thumb|A passenger train at the New Delhi railway station. Freight awaits pick up or transportation to other destinations.]] Delhi is a major junction in the Indian railway network and is the headquarters of the Northern Railway. The main railway stations are New Delhi, Old Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Anand Vihar, Delhi Sarai Rohilla and Delhi Cantt.<ref name=ecosurv12 /> The Delhi Metro, a mass rapid transit system built and operated by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), serves many parts of Delhi and the neighbouring cities Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Noida.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.delhimetrorail.com/press_reldetails.aspx?id=63aQSC8zmhslld |title=Faridabad Metro Corridor – Press Brief |publisher=Delhimetrorail.com |access-date=24 December 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101225813/https://www.delhimetrorail.com/press_reldetails.aspx?id=63aQSC8zmhslld |archive-date=1 January 2016 }}</ref> {{as of|2021|December|}}, the metro consists of ten operational lines with a total length of {{convert|348.12|km|mi|abbr=on}} and 254 stations, and several other lines are under construction.<ref name="tie-10aug18">{{cite news |last1=Barman |first1=Sourav Roy |title=Since 2013, 99% of Delhi Metro trips have been on time |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/since-2013-99-of-delhi-metro-trips-have-been-on-time-5299822/ |work=The Indian Express |date=10 August 2018 |location=New Delhi |access-date=11 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811064615/https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/since-2013-99-of-delhi-metro-trips-have-been-on-time-5299822/ |archive-date=11 August 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Phase-I was built at a cost of US$2.3&nbsp;billion and the Phase-II was expected to cost an additional {{INRConvert|216|b}}.<ref name="Bloomberg.com: Opinion">{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&refer=columnist_mukherjee&sid=afv8Sf2MUvac|title=Bloomberg.com: Opinion|publisher=Bloomberg L.P.|access-date=3 November 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027123847/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&refer=columnist_mukherjee&sid=afv8Sf2MUvac|archive-date=27 October 2012}}</ref> Phase-II has a total length of {{Convert|128|km|abbr=on}} and was completed by 2010.<ref name="Economictimes.indiatimes.com">{{cite news |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Shipping__Transport/Get_ready_for_revolution_on_wheels/articleshow/3332826.cms |title=Get ready for revolution on wheels |work=The Economic Times |access-date=3 November 2008 |date=6 August 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111203439/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Shipping__Transport/Get_ready_for_revolution_on_wheels/articleshow/3332826.cms |archive-date=11 January 2009 }}</ref> Delhi Metro completed 10&nbsp;years of operation on 25 December 2012. It carries millions of passengers every day.<ref name="10 years of Delhi Metro">{{cite web|url=https://www.delhimetrorail.com/press_reldetails.aspx?id=c4kJd1nWTgMlld|title=10 years of Delhi Metro|publisher=delhimetrorail.com|date=24 January 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130830032441/https://www.delhimetrorail.com/press_reldetails.aspx?id=c4kJd1nWTgMlld|archive-date=30 August 2013}}</ref> In addition to the Delhi Metro, a suburban railway, the Delhi Suburban Railway exists.<ref name="Indian Express">{{cite news |title=Changing Delhi map makes Ring Railway redundant |url=https://www.indianexpress.com/news/changing-delhi-map-makes-ring-railway-redundant/752994/0 |work=The Indian Express |date=22 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228113258/https://www.indianexpress.com/news/changing-delhi-map-makes-ring-railway-redundant/752994/0 |archive-date=28 February 2011 }}</ref>

=== Metro === [[File:DelhiMetroBlueLineBombardier.jpg|thumb|Delhi Metro is widely used in the NCR.|left]] The Delhi Metro is a rapid transit system serving Delhi, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Noida in the National Capital Region of India. It is the world's tenth-largest metro system by length of lines. It was India's second modern public transportation system. The network consists of 10 colour-coded lines<ref name="present network">{{Cite web |title=Present Network |url=https://www.delhimetrorail.com/pages/en/present-network |access-date=16 April 2022 |website=www.delhimetrorail.com |archive-date=2 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102184258/https://www.delhimetrorail.com/pages/en/present-network |url-status=live }}</ref> serving 255 stations{{efn|name=fn1|Transfer stations are counted more than once. There are 24 transfer stations. If transfer stations are counted only once, the result will be 230 stations. Ashok Park Main station, where the two diverging branches of Green Line share tracks/platforms, is anyway counted as a single station. Stations of Noida Metro and Gurgaon Metro are not counted. If stations of Noida Metro and Gurgaon Metro are counted, the result will be 286 stations<ref name="route map">{{Cite web |title=Route map |url=https://www.delhimetrorail.com/pages/en/network_map |access-date=16 April 2022 |website=www.delhimetrorail.com |archive-date=3 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503094904/https://www.delhimetrorail.com/pages/en/network_map |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="present network"/><ref name="introduction">{{Cite web |title=Introduction {{!}} DMRC |url=https://www.delhimetrorail.com/pages/en/introduction |access-date=16 April 2022 |website=www.delhimetrorail.com |archive-date=16 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220416024331/https://www.delhimetrorail.com/pages/en/introduction |url-status=live }}</ref>}} with a total length of {{convert|348.12|km|abbr=}}.{{efn|name=fn2|The total length of Delhi Metro is {{convert|348.12|km}}. The operations & maintenance of Gurgaon Metro and Noida Metro is currently undertaken by DMRC, so the total length operated by DMRC is {{convert|390.14|km}}.<ref name="route map"/><ref name="introduction"/>}} The system has a mix of underground, at-grade, and elevated stations using both broad-gauge and standard-gauge. All stations have escalators, lifts, and tactile tiles to guide the visually impaired from station entrances to trains. There are 18 designated parking sites at the Metro stations. In March 2010, DMRC partnered with Google India (through Google Transit) to provide train schedule and route information to mobile devices with Google Maps. It has a combination of elevated, at-grade, and underground lines, and uses both broad gauge and standard gauge rolling stock. Four types of rolling stock are used: Mitsubishi–ROTEM Broad gauge, Bombardier MOVIA, Mitsubishi–ROTEM Standard gauge, and CAF Beasain Standard gauge. The Phase-I of Delhi Metro was built for US$2.3&nbsp;billion and the Phase-II was expected to cost an additional {{INRConvert|216|b}}.<ref name="Bloomberg.com: Opinion" /> Phase-II has a total length of {{Convert|128|km|abbr=on}} and was completed by 2010.<ref name="Economictimes.indiatimes.com" /> Delhi Metro completed 10&nbsp;years of operation on 25 December 2012. It carries millions of passengers every day.<ref name="10 years of Delhi Metro" />

Although the Delhi Metro was built and is operated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC), a state-owned company with equal equity participation of the governments of India and Delhi, it is under the administrative control of the Indian government's Ministry of Urban Development. Besides the construction and operation of the Delhi Metro, DMRC is also involved in the planning and implementation of metro rail, monorail, and high-speed rail projects in India and providing consultancy services to other metro projects in the country as well as abroad.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

== Demographics == {{See also|Ethnic groups in Delhi}} thumb|NCT of Delhi population pyramid in 2011

{{Historical population | source = Government of India<ref>{{cite web |title=Census Tables |url=https://censusindia.gov.in/census.website/data/census-tables |website=censusindia.gov.in |access-date=6 January 2024 |archive-date=2 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302113812/https://censusindia.gov.in/census.website/data/census-tables |url-status=live }}</ref> |1901 | 214115 |1911 | 237944 |1921 | 304420 |1931 | 373789 |1941 | 578813 |1951 | 1119870 |1961 | 2061758 |1971 | 3287883 |1981 | 5099539 |1991 | 7423193 |2001 | 9879172 |2011 | 11034555 |align = right }}

=== Population growth === According to the 2011 census of India, the population of the NCT of Delhi is 16,753,235.<ref name="censusindia1">{{cite web |url=https://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/prov_data_products_delhi.html |title=Census of India: Provisional Population Totals for Census 2011: NCT of Delhi |publisher=Censusindia.gov.in |access-date=2 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110412141059/https://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/prov_data_products_delhi.html |archive-date=12 April 2011 }}</ref> The corresponding population density was 11,297 persons per km² with a sex ratio of 866 women per 1000 men, and a literacy rate of 86.34%. In 2004, the birth rate, death rate and infant mortality rate per 1000 population were 20.03, 5.59 and 13.08, respectively.<ref name="ecosurv3">{{cite web|url=https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/3.pdf|title=Chapter 3: Demographic Profile|access-date=21 December 2006|work=Economic Survey of Delhi, 2005–2006|publisher=Planning Department, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi|pages=17–31|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614203710/https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/3.pdf|archive-date=14 June 2007}}</ref> In 2001, the population of Delhi increased by 285,000 as a result of migration and by 215,000 as a result of natural population growth,<ref name="ecosurv3" /> which made Delhi one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Dwarka Sub City, Asia's largest planned residential area, is located within the National Capital Territory of Delhi.<ref>[https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/newdelhi/Can-t-afford-to-fall-ill-in-Dwarka/Article1-432697.aspx Can't afford to fall ill in Dwarka] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027190146/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/newdelhi/Can-t-afford-to-fall-ill-in-Dwarka/Article1-432697.aspx |date=27 October 2014 }}, ''Hindustan Times'', 16 July 2009</ref>

Urban expansion has resulted in Delhi's urban area now being considered as extending beyond the NCT boundaries to incorporate the towns and cities of neighbouring states including Faridabad and Gurgaon in Haryana, and Ghaziabad and Noida in Uttar Pradesh, the total population of which is estimated by the United Nations to be over 28 million. According to the UN this makes Delhi urban area the world's second-largest urban area after Tokyo,<ref name="UNcities2018">{{cite web|title=The World's Cities in 2018|url=https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/urbanization/the_worlds_cities_in_2018_data_booklet.pdf|publisher=United Nations|access-date=2 September 2021|archive-date=31 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831183632/https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/urbanization/the_worlds_cities_in_2018_data_booklet.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> although Demographia declares the Jakarta urban area to be the second-largest.<ref name="Demographia">{{cite book|author1=Demographia|title=Demographia World Urban Areas|year=2016|edition=12th|url=https://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf|access-date=17 November 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805030244/https://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf|archive-date=5 August 2011}}</ref>

The 2011 census provided two figures for urban area population: 16,314,838 within the NCT boundary,<ref name="Delhiuapop2011">{{cite web|url=https://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/paper2/data_files/india2/Million_Plus_UAs_Cities_2011.pdf|title=Urban agglomerations/cities having population 1 million and above|year=2011|work=Provisional population totals, census of India 2011|publisher=Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India|access-date=26 January 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111215163132/https://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/paper2/data_files/india2/Million_Plus_UAs_Cities_2011.pdf|archive-date=15 December 2011}}</ref> and 21,753,486 for the ''Extended Urban Area''.<ref name="pibmumbai1">{{cite web|url=https://pibmumbai.gov.in/scripts/detail.asp?releaseId=E2011IS3|title=India Stats : Million plus cities in India as per Census 2011|work=pibmumbai.gov.in|access-date=7 September 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630112755/https://pibmumbai.gov.in/scripts/detail.asp?releaseId=E2011IS3|archive-date=30 June 2015}}</ref> The 2021 regional plan released by the Government of India renamed the ''Extended Urban Area'' from ''Delhi Metropolitan Area (DMA)'' as defined by the 2001 plan,<ref name="DMA">{{cite web|title=Evaluation Study of DMA Towns in National Capital Region|url=https://tcpomud.gov.in/divisions/mutp/dma/final_dma_report.pdf|website=Town and Country Planning Organisation|publisher=Ministry of Urban Development|access-date=19 March 2017|date=September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320052724/https://tcpomud.gov.in/divisions/mutp/dma/final_dma_report.pdf|archive-date=20 March 2017}}</ref> to ''Central National Capital Region (CNCR)''.<ref name="DMA" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Regional Plan 2021, Chapter 4, Demographic Profile and Settlement Pattern|url=https://ncrpb.nic.in/pdf_files/Regional%20Plan%202021%20chapter/08_CH04%20demographic%20profile%20&%20settlement%20pattern.pdf|publisher=NCR Planning Board|access-date=19 March 2017|page=28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320055054/https://ncrpb.nic.in/pdf_files/Regional%20Plan%202021%20chapter/08_CH04%20demographic%20profile%20%26%20settlement%20pattern.pdf|archive-date=20 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Slums === As of 2012, around 49% of the population of Delhi lives in slums and unauthorised colonies without any civic amenities.<ref>{{cite web|author=Dhananjay Mahapatra|date=4 October 2012|title='Half of Delhi's population lives in slums'|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Half-of-Delhis-population-lives-in-slums/articleshow/16664224.cms|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414235944/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Half-of-Delhis-population-lives-in-slums/articleshow/16664224.cms|archive-date=14 April 2016|access-date=1 January 2016|work=The Times of India}}</ref> The majority of these slums have inadequate provisions to the basic facilities and according to a DUSIB report.<ref>{{cite web|author=Mayura Janwalkar|date=20 April 2015|title=Delhi: Slum shame|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-slum-shame/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160112235218/https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-slum-shame/|archive-date=12 January 2016|access-date=1 January 2016|work=The Indian Express}}</ref>

=== Religions === Hinduism is Delhi's predominant religious faith, with 81.68% of Delhi's population, followed by Islam (12.86%), Sikhism (3.40%), Jainism (0.99%), Christianity (0.87%), and Buddhism (0.11%).<ref name="Religion PCA 2011">{{cite web|title=Religion PCA|url=https://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/Religion_pca/RL-0700.xlsx|website=censusindia.gov.in|publisher=Government of India|access-date=8 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160707231710/https://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/Religion_pca/RL-0700.xlsx|archive-date=7 July 2016}}</ref> Other minority religions include Zoroastrianism, Baháʼísm and Judaism.<ref name=Lonelyplanet>{{cite web|publisher= Census of India 2001| url= https://www.censusindia.net/religiondata/| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070812011525/https://www.censusindia.net/religiondata/index.html| archive-date=12 August 2007|title=Data on Religion |page= 1|access-date=16 May 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Delhi Hindu Muslim Population |url=https://www.census2011.co.in/data/religion/state/7-delhi.html |access-date=22 March 2025 |website=www.census2011.co.in}}</ref>

{{Pie chart | caption = Languages in NCT of Delhi (2011)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/10201/download/13313/DDW-C16-STMT-MDDS-0700.XLSX |title=C-16: Population by mother tongue |website=Office Of The Registrar General & Census Commissioner India |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809135008/https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/10201/download/13313/DDW-C16-STMT-MDDS-0700.XLSX |access-date=25 November 2023|archive-date=9 August 2022 }}</ref> | label1 = Hindi | value1 = 81.27 | color1 = orange | label2 = Punjabi | value2 = 5.20 | color2 = pink | label3 = Urdu | value3 = 5.17 | color3 = green | label4 = Bhojpuri | value4 = 1.35 | color4 = gold | label5 = Bengali | value5 = 1.29 | color5 = orchid | label6 = Maithili | value6 = 0.73 | color6 = yellow | label7 = Haryanvi | value7 = 0.67 | color7 = darkred | label8 = Tamil | value8 = 0.53 | color8 = royalblue | label9 = Malayalam | value9 = 0.49 | color9 = cornflowerblue | label10 = Rajasthani | value10 = 0.46 | color10 = firebrick | label11 = Garhwali | value11 = 0.43 | color11 = teal | thumb = right | value12 = 0.24 | value13 = 0.23 | value14 = 0.22 | value15 = 0.19 | value16 = 0.19 | value17 = 0.17 | value18 = 0.16 | value19 = 0.11 | value20 = 0.09 | value21 = 0.08 | value22 = 0.07 | value23 = 0.06 | value24 = 0.05 | color24 = purple | color23 = darkslateblue | color22 = maroon | color21 = indianred | color20 = coral | color19 = lightgreen | color18 = steelblue | color17 = magenta | color16 = turquoise | color15 = limegreen | color14 = Darkorange | color13 = saddlebrown | color12 = skyblue | label12 = Gujarati | label13 = Odia | label15 = Kumaoni | label16 = Sindhi | label17 = Marathi | label14 = Nepali | label18 = Telugu | label19 = Kashmiri | label20 = Pahari | label21 = Awadhi | label22 = Marwari | label24 = Assamese | label23 = Kannada | color25 = grey | label25 = Others | value25 = 0.48 }}

=== Languages === According to the 50th report of the commissioner for linguistic minorities in India, which was submitted in 2014, Hindi is Delhi's most spoken language, with 80.94% speakers, followed by Punjabi (7.14%), Urdu (6.31%) and Bengali (1.50%). 4.11% speak other languages.<ref name="langminor">{{cite web|title=50th Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India|url=https://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM50thReport.pdf|website=nclm.nic.in|publisher=Ministry of Minority Affairs|access-date=8 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160708012438/https://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM50thReport.pdf|archive-date=8 July 2016|page=9}}</ref> Hindi is also the official language of Delhi while Urdu and Punjabi have been declared as additional official languages.<ref name="langminor" />

== Culture == {{See also|Culture of India}} {{multiple image | perrow = 2 | align = left | total_width = 400 | caption_align = center | image1 = Traditional pottery in Dilli Haat.jpg | caption1 = Traditional pottery on display in ''Dilli Haat'' | image2 = Pragati Maidan, inside hall 18 (3).JPG | caption2 = Pragati Maidan hosts the ''World Book Fair'' biennially. }}

Delhi's culture has been influenced by its lengthy history and historic association as the capital of India. Although a strong Punjabi Influence can be seen in language, dress and cuisine brought by the large number of refugees who came following the partition in 1947 the recent migration from other parts of India has made it a melting pot. This is exemplified by many significant monuments in the city. The Archaeological Survey of India recognises 1,200 heritage buildings<ref>{{cite news |agency=Press Trust of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Promote-lesser-known-monuments-of-Delhi/articleshow/4194014.cms |title=Promote lesser-known monuments of Delhi'-Delhi-Cities |date=27 February 2009 |access-date=7 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811134804/https://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-02-27/delhi/27996908_1_monuments-heritage-buildings-kashmiri-gate |archive-date=11 August 2011 |work=The Times of India |url-status=live }}</ref> and 175 monuments as national heritage sites.<ref name=asimonuments>{{cite web |url = https://asi.nic.in/asi_monu_alphalist_delhi.asp |title = Delhi Circle (NCT of Delhi) |access-date = 27 December 2006 |work = List of Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains of National Importance |publisher = Archaeological Survey of India |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070514061700/https://asi.nic.in/asi_monu_alphalist_delhi.asp |archive-date = 14 May 2007}}</ref>

In the Old City, the Mughals and the Turkic rulers constructed several architecturally significant buildings, such as the Jama Masjid—India's largest mosque<ref name="Jama">{{cite web| publisher=Terra Galleria| url=https://www.terragalleria.com/asia/india/delhi/picture.indi38660.html| title=Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque| access-date=13 March 2009| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304032037/https://www.terragalleria.com/asia/india/delhi/picture.indi38660.html| archive-date=4 March 2009}}</ref> built in 1656<ref>{{cite web | publisher= India.gov | url= https://www.archive.india.gov.in/knowindia/culture_heritage.php?id=46 | title= Know India | access-date= 22 January 2010 | url-status=live | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150904034839/https://www.archive.india.gov.in/knowindia/culture_heritage.php?id=46 | archive-date= 4 September 2015}}</ref> and the Red Fort. Three World Heritage Sites—the Red Fort, Qutub Minar and Humayun's Tomb—are located in Delhi.<ref name="whsite">{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/in|title=Properties inscribed on the World Heritage List: India|access-date=13 January 2007|publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120502200152/https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/in/|archive-date=2 May 2012}}</ref> Other monuments include the India Gate, the Jantar Mantar—an 18th-century astronomical observatory—and the Purana Qila—a 16th-century fortress. The Laxminarayan Temple, Akshardham temple, Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, the Baháʼí Faith's Lotus Temple and the ISKCON temple are examples of modern architecture. Raj Ghat and associated memorials houses memorials of Mahatma Gandhi and other notable personalities. New Delhi houses several government buildings and official residences reminiscent of British colonial architecture, including the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Secretariat, Rajpath, the Parliament of India and Vijay Chowk. Safdarjung's Tomb is an example of the Mughal gardens style. Some regal ''havelis'' (palatial residences) are in the Old City.<ref name="jacob">{{cite journal |last = Jacob |first = Satish |date = July 2002 |title = Wither, the walled city |journal = Seminar (Web Edition) |issue = 515 |url = https://www.india-seminar.com/2002/515/515%20satish%20jacob.htm |access-date = 19 January 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061212133015/https://www.india-seminar.com/2002/515/515%20satish%20jacob.htm |archive-date = 12 December 2006}}</ref> Lotus Temple is a Baháʼí House of Worship completed in 1986. Notable for its flowerlike shape, it serves as the Mother Temple of the Indian subcontinent and has become a prominent attraction in the city. The National Museum and National Gallery of Modern Art are some of the largest museums in the country. Other museums in Delhi include the National Museum of Natural History, National Rail Museum and National Philatelic Museum.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Chandni Chowk, a 17th-century market, is one of the most popular shopping areas in Delhi for jewellery and ''Zari'' saris.<ref name=Chandni>{{cite web| work=Delhi Tours| publisher=About Palace on Wheels| url=https://www.aboutpalaceonwheels.com/palace-on-wheels-destinations/shopping-in-delhi.html| title=Shopping in Delhi| access-date=4 January 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426065550/https://www.aboutpalaceonwheels.com/palace-on-wheels-destinations/shopping-in-delhi.html| archive-date=26 April 2012}}</ref> Delhi's arts and crafts include, ''Zardozi''<ref>{{cite book|title=The Textile Book|via=Google Books|page=99|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K1VR6wQTNAsC&q=Zardosi+work+in+delhi&pg=PA99|isbn=978-1-85973-512-1|date=1 May 2002|last1=Gale|first1=Colin|last2=Lahori|first2=Lajwanti|last3=Kaur|first3=Jasbir|publisher=Berg Publishers |access-date=2 October 2020|archive-date=13 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413204006/https://books.google.com/books?id=K1VR6wQTNAsC&q=Zardosi+work+in+delhi&pg=PA99|url-status=live}}</ref>—an embroidery done with gold thread<ref>{{cite news|title=Ancient and modern metal craft works attract visitors|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/allahabad/Ancient-and-modern-metal-craft-works-attract-visitors/articleshow/14034680.cms|access-date=18 June 2012|date=12 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127185543/https://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-12/allahabad/32194194_1_metal-statues-jewellery|archive-date=27 January 2013|newspaper=The Times of India|url-status=live}}</ref>—and ''Meenakari''<ref>{{cite web|title=Delhi Handicrafts |url=https://www.indian-handicrafts-suppliers.com/traditional-handicrafts/delhi-handicrafts.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070601175713/https://www.indian-handicrafts-suppliers.com/traditional-handicrafts/delhi-handicrafts.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 June 2007 |publisher=Indian Handicrafts suppliars |access-date=18 June 2012 }}</ref>—the art of enamelling.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="134"> File:Birla Mandir Delhi.jpg|alt=The Birla temple in Delhi with its towers.|The Hindu Laxminarayan Mandir was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1933. File:Jama Masjid - In the Noon.jpg|The Jama Masjid was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan between 1650 and 1656. File:Interior-view-Gurudwara-Sis-Ganj-Sahib-Night-View.jpg|The prayer hall of Sikh Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi which dates to 1783 </gallery>

=== Festivals === {{multiple image | perrow = 2 | total_width = 400 | caption_align = center | image1 = Chhath Puja Sandya Aragh-005.jpg | caption1 = More than a quarter of the immigrants in Delhi are from Bihar and neighbouring states. Chhath, a festival of Bihar is now popular in Delhi.<ref name=kapur-busstand-chhath>{{cite news|last=Kapur|first=Manavi|title=Patna in Delhi|work=Business Standard|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/patna-in-delhi-113112900834_1.html|date=30 November 2013|access-date=14 October 2021|archive-date=28 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028170253/https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/patna-in-delhi-113112900834_1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> | image2 = Basant Celebrations at Dargah.jpg | caption2 = On Basant Panchmi eve, qawwali singers wearing yellow headbands gather at the dargah of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya to sing verses from Amir Khusrau.<ref name=tiwari-wire-auliya>{{citation|last=Tiwari|first=Bharat S.|title=At Nizamuddin Auliya's Dargah, Basant is the Colour of Harmony|work=The Wire|url=https://thewire.in/culture/nizamuddin-auliyas-dargah-basant-panchami|date=12 February 2020|access-date=14 October 2021|archive-date=27 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027183536/https://thewire.in/culture/nizamuddin-auliyas-dargah-basant-panchami|url-status=live}}</ref> }}

Delhi's association and geographic proximity to the capital, New Delhi, has amplified the importance of national events and holidays like Republic Day, Independence Day (15 August) and ''Gandhi Jayanti''. On Independence Day, the Prime Minister addresses the nation from the Red Fort. The Republic Day Parade is a large cultural and military parade showcasing India's cultural diversity and military strength.<ref name=repmil>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2002/01/28/stories/2002012800060800.htm|title=R-Day parade, an anachronism?|access-date=13 January 2007|last=Ray Choudhury|first=Ray Choudhury|date=28 January 2002|newspaper=Business Line|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118160454/https://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2002/01/28/stories/2002012800060800.htm|archive-date=18 January 2012}}</ref><ref name=repcul>{{cite web |url=https://www.india-tourism.org/delhi-travel/delhi-fairs-festivals.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070319223442/https://www.india-tourism.org/delhi-travel/delhi-fairs-festivals.html |archive-date=19 March 2007 |title=Fairs & Festivals of Delhi|access-date=13 January 2007|work=Delhi Travel|publisher=India Tourism.org}}</ref> Over the centuries, Delhi has become known for its composite culture, and a festival that symbolises this is the ''Phool Walon Ki Sair'', which takes place in September. Flowers and ''pankhe''—fans embroidered with flowers—are offered to the shrine of the 13th-century Sufi saint Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki and the Yogmaya Temple, both situated in Mehrauli.<ref>''Delhi: a portrait'', by Khushwant Singh, Raghu Rai, Published by Delhi Tourism Development Corp., 1983. {{ISBN|978-0-19-561437-4}}. p. 15.</ref>

Religious festivals include ''Diwali'' (the festival of lights), ''Mahavir Jayanti'', Guru Nanak's Birthday, ''Raksha Bandhan'', ''Durga Puja'', ''Holi'', ''Lohri'', ''Chauth'', ''Krishna Janmastami'', ''Maha Shivratri'', Eid ul-Fitr, ''Moharram'' and ''Buddha Jayanti''.<ref name=repcul /> The Qutub Festival is a cultural event during which performances of musicians and dancers from all over India are showcased at night, with the Qutub Minar as a backdrop.<ref name=qutubfest>{{cite news |first=Madhur |last=Tankha |title=It's Sufi and rock at Qutub Fest |url=https://www.hindu.com/2005/12/15/stories/2005121503090200.htm |date=15 December 2005 |access-date=13 January 2007 |location=Chennai |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060513084038/https://www.hindu.com/2005/12/15/stories/2005121503090200.htm |work=The Hindu |archive-date=13 May 2006 }}</ref> Other events such as Kite Flying Festival, International Mango Festival and ''Vasant Panchami'' (the Spring Festival) are held every year in Delhi. The Auto Expo, Asia's largest auto show,<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite news |url=https://www.hindu.com/2008/01/09/stories/2008010953071500.htm |title=Front Page: Asia's largest auto carnival begins in Delhi tomorrow |date=9 January 2008 |access-date=3 November 2008 |location=Chennai |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117072559/https://www.hindu.com/2008/01/09/stories/2008010953071500.htm |work=The Hindu |archive-date=17 January 2012 }}</ref> is held in Delhi biennially. The New Delhi World Book Fair, held biennially at the Pragati Maidan, is the second-largest exhibition of books in the world.<ref name="indiatimes1">{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Delhi-Metro-records-10-rise-in-commuters/articleshow/3185626.cms |title=Delhi Metro records 10% rise in commuters|date=1 July 2008 |access-date=3 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508042058/https://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-07-01/delhi/27921191_1_ridership-delhi-metro-shahdara-dilshad-garden |archive-date=8 May 2013 |work=The Times of India |url-status=live }}</ref> Delhi is often regarded as the "Book Capital" of India because of high readership.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=313090 |title=Sunil Sethi: Why Delhi is India's Book Capital |work=Business Standard |author=Sunil Sethi / New Delhi&nbsp;9 February 2008 |access-date=3 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090101102116/https://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=313090 |archive-date=1 January 2009 }}</ref> India International Trade Fair (IITF), organised by ITPO is the biggest cultural and shopping fair of Delhi which takes place in November each year and is visited by more than 1.5&nbsp;million people.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.iitf.in/res/pdf/report-of-iitf-2014.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206103109/https://iitf.in/res/pdf/report-of-iitf-2014.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date= 6 February 2015 |title=Report of IITF 2014 }}</ref>

=== Cuisine === {{Main|Indian cuisine}}

[[File:Karim's Hotel, Delhi(4).jpg|thumb|left|Kitchen, Karim's, Old Delhi, a historic restaurant, established 1913<ref>{{cite book |title=DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide: Delhi |page=65 |year=2012 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |isbn=9781409387008 }}</ref>]] As India's national capital and centuries old Mughal capital, Delhi influenced the food habits of its residents and is where Mughlai cuisine originated. Along with Indian cuisine, a variety of international cuisines are popular among the residents.<ref name="Narayan">{{cite book|title=New Delhi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCX1UrCinO4C|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|pages=14–17|year=2006|first=M. R. Narayan|last=Swamy|isbn=978-981-232-996-7|access-date=23 June 2012|archive-date=13 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413204002/https://books.google.com/books?id=VCX1UrCinO4C|url-status=live}}</ref> This variety of cuisines created a unique style of cooking which became popular throughout the world, with dishes such as ''Kebab'', ''biryani'', ''tandoori''. The city's classic dishes include butter chicken, ''dal makhani'', ''shahi paneer'', ''aloo chaat'', ''chaat'', ''dahi bhalla'', ''kachori'', ''gol gappe'', ''samosa'', ''chole bhature'', ''chole kulche'', ''gulab jamun'', ''jalebi'' and ''lassi''.<ref name="Narayan" /><ref name="commonwealth">{{cite web|title=Commonwealth games guide to Delhi|url=https://www.delhitourism.gov.in/delhitourism/pdf/Book1-complete.pdf|publisher=Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation Ltd|year=2010|first=Chetananand|last=Singh|access-date=23 June 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510032252/https://www.delhitourism.gov.in/delhitourism/pdf/Book1-complete.pdf|archive-date=10 May 2012}}</ref>{{rp|40–50, 189–196}}

The fast living habits of Delhi's people has motivated the growth of street food outlets.<ref name="commonwealth" />{{rp|41}} A trend of dining at local ''dhabas'' is popular among the residents. High-profile restaurants have gained popularity in recent years, among the popular restaurants are the Karim Hotel, the Punjab Grill and Bukhara.<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news|title=Delhi, India: hotels, restaurants and transport|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/citybreaks/8362383/Delhi-India-hotels-restaurants-and-transport.html|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|first=Fiona|last=Duncan|date=6 March 2011|access-date=23 June 2012|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314143015/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/citybreaks/8362383/Delhi-India-hotels-restaurants-and-transport.html|archive-date=14 March 2012}}</ref> The ''Gali Paranthe Wali'' (the street of fried bread) is a street in Chandni Chowk particularly for food eateries since the 1870s. Almost the entire street is occupied by fast food stalls or street vendors. Other Indian cuisines are also available in this area even though the street specialises in north Indian food.<ref name="commonwealth" />{{rp|40–50}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Rajasthan, Delhi and Agra|url=https://archive.org/details/lonelyplanetraja00brow|url-access=limited|publisher=Lonely Planet|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lonelyplanetraja00brow/page/n7 20]–31|year=2008|first1=Lindsay|last1=Brown|first2=Amelia|last2=Thomas|location=Footscray, Vic.|isbn=978-1-74104-690-8|edition=second}}</ref>

== Education == {{Main|Education in Delhi|List of schools in Delhi}}

{{multiple image | perrow = 3 | total_width = 400 | caption_align = center | image1 = Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital, Delhi; pharmacy. Wellcome V0029217.jpg | caption1 = Lady Hardinge Medical College pharmacy, 1921 | image2 = IP COLLEGE FOR WOMEN.jpg | caption2 = Indraprastha College for Women, established in 1924 | image3 = Mohibul Hasan House, Faculty of Humanities and Languages, JMI.jpg | caption3 = Jamia Millia Islamia est. 1920 by M. A. Ansari and Zakir Husain | image4 = Delhiuni.jpg | caption4 = University of Delhi was founded in 1922. Sir Maurice Gwyer served as its first vice-chancellor. | image5 = Anglo Arabic School's Hostel earlier known as Ghaziuddin Khan Madrasa.jpg | caption5 = Dormitory of Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School, founded 1696, reorganised 1828 | image6 = Delhi Government School Student defining Happiness in Happiness Class.jpg | caption6 = A Delhi government school student writing down the names of fruits and vegetables | align = | direction = | alt1 = }}

Private schools in Delhi—which use either English or Hindi as the language of instruction—are affiliated to one of three administering bodies, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE)<ref>{{cite web|title=Schools in Delhi |url=https://www.onlineschooladmissions.com/Delhi-schools-directory.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921165659/https://www.onlineschooladmissions.com/Delhi-schools-directory.html |archive-date=21 September 2012 }}</ref> or the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). In 2004–05, approximately 1,529,000 students were enrolled in primary schools, 822,000 in middle schools and 669,000 in secondary schools across Delhi.<ref name=ecosurv15 /> Female students represented 49% of the total enrolment. The same year, the Delhi government spent between 1.58% and 1.95% of its gross state domestic product on education.<ref name=ecosurv15 />

Schools and higher educational institutions in Delhi are administered either by the Directorate of Education, the NCT government or private organisations. In 2006, Delhi had 165 colleges, five medical colleges and eight engineering colleges,<ref name=ecosurv15>{{cite web|url=https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/15.pdf|title=Chapter 15: Education|access-date=21 December 2006|work=Economic Survey of Delhi, 2005–06|publisher=Planning Department, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi|pages=173–187|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614203748/https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/Chpt/15.pdf|archive-date=14 June 2007}}</ref> seven major universities and nine deemed universities.<ref name=ecosurv15 />

The premier management colleges of Delhi such as Faculty of Management Studies (Delhi) and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade rank the best in India. All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi is a premier medical school for treatment and research. National Law University, Delhi is a prominent law school and is affiliated with the Bar Council of India. The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi situated in Hauz Khas is a premier engineering college of India and ranks as one of the top institutes in South Asia.<ref>{{Cite web|title=8 Indian universities feature in THE Asia Rankings top 100 list — and it's not just IITs|url=https://www.businessinsider.in/education/news/the-asia-rankings-2020-only-8-indian-universities-ranked-in-top-100/articleshow/76172447.cms|access-date=4 October 2020|website=Business Insider|archive-date=11 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011235811/https://www.businessinsider.in/education/news/the-asia-rankings-2020-only-8-indian-universities-ranked-in-top-100/articleshow/76172447.cms|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=QS Asia Ranking 2019: 19 Indian Institutes In Top 200; IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur Improve Ranking|url=https://www.ndtv.com/education/qs-asia-ranking-2019-19-indian-institutes-in-top-200-iit-bombay-iit-delhi-iit-kharagpur-improve-rank-1937601|access-date=4 October 2020|website=NDTV.com|language=en|archive-date=9 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009010811/https://www.ndtv.com/education/qs-asia-ranking-2019-19-indian-institutes-in-top-200-iit-bombay-iit-delhi-iit-kharagpur-improve-rank-1937601|url-status=live}}</ref>

Delhi Technological University, Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Netaji Subhas University of Technology, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and National Law University are the only state universities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Home {{!}} NSIT |url=https://www.nsit.ac.in/ |website=Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology |access-date=1 February 2021 |archive-date=12 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012174351/https://coe.nsit.ac.in/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ugc.ac.in/stateuniversitylist.aspx?id=5&Unitype=2 |title=List of State Universities |access-date=11 May 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520070301/https://www.ugc.ac.in/stateuniversitylist.aspx?id=5&Unitype=2 |archive-date=20 May 2013 }}</ref> University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia are the central universities, and Indira Gandhi National Open University is for distance education.<ref name=Act>{{cite web|title=The Indira Gandhi National Open University Act, 198 |url=https://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/IGNOUACT-1985.pdf |publisher=Government of India |access-date=17 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417134753/https://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/IGNOUACT-1985.pdf |archive-date=17 April 2012 }}</ref> {{As of|2008}}, about 16% of all Delhi residents possessed at least a college graduate degree.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=325739 |title=outlookindia.com {{pipe}} wired |publisher=Outlookindia.com |access-date=3 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051104152936/https://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=325739 |archive-date= 4 November 2005 }}</ref>

According to the Directorate of Education and GNCTD the following languages are taught in schools in Delhi under the three-language formula:<ref>{{cite web |title=52nd Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India |url=https://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM52ndReport.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525141614/https://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM52ndReport.pdf |archive-date=25 May 2017 |access-date=15 February 2018 |website=nclm.nic.in |publisher=Ministry of Minority Affairs |page=18}}</ref> * First language: Hindi, Urdu, English * Second language: English * Third language: Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic

== Media == {{See also|Media of India}} [[File:Pitampura TV Tower, Delhi, India.jpg|thumb|upright|Pitampura TV Tower broadcasts to Delhi.|alt=Pitampura TV Tower with background of blue sky]] As the capital of India, Delhi is the focus of political reportage, including regular television broadcasts of Parliament sessions. Many national media agencies, including the state-owned Press Trust of India, Media Trust of India and Doordarshan, are based in the city. Television programming includes two free terrestrial television channels offered by Doordarshan, and several Hindi, English, and regional-language cable channels offered by multi system operators. Satellite television has yet to gain a large number of subscribers in the city.<ref name=dthrediff>{{cite web |url=https://www.rediff.com///money/2006/sep/05iycu.htm |title=What is CAS? What is DTH? |access-date=8 January 2007 |date=5 September 2006 |work=rediff news: Business |publisher=Rediff.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100531143055/https://www.rediff.com//news/apr/28bihar.htm |archive-date=31 May 2010 }}</ref>

Print journalism remains a popular news medium in Delhi. The city's Hindi newspapers include ''Navbharat Times'', ''Hindustan Dainik'', ''Punjab Kesari'', ''Pavitra Bharat'', ''Dainik Jagran'', ''Dainik Bhaskar'', ''Amar Ujala'' and ''Dainik Desbandhu''. Among the English language newspapers, the ''Hindustan Times'', with a daily circulation of over a million copies, is the single largest daily.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biographical Data of Vir Sanghvi|url=https://www.virsanghvi.com/about-vir.aspx|access-date=17 May 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513021053/https://virsanghvi.com/about-vir.aspx|archive-date=13 May 2012}}</ref> Other major English newspapers include ''The Times of India'', ''The Hindu'', ''The Indian Express'', ''Business Standard'', ''The Pioneer'', ''The Statesman'', and ''The Asian Age''. Regional language newspapers include the Malayalam daily ''Malayala Manorama'' and the Tamil dailies ''Dinamalar'' and ''Dinakaran''. Qaumi Duniya Daily was a local Urdu newspaper, which has since moved online.

Radio is a less popular mass medium in Delhi, although FM radio has gained popularity<ref name=radiomass>{{cite web|url=https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/trust/pdf/india_sex_selection/Chapter4.pdf|title=Chapter4: Towards a Mass Media Campaign: Analysing the relationship between target audiences and mass media|access-date=8 January 2007|last=Naqvi|first=Farah|date=14 November 2006|work=Images and icons: Harnessing the Power of Mass Media to Promote Gender Equality and Reduce Practices of Sex Selection|publisher=BBC World Service Trust|pages=26–36|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415125927/https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/trust/pdf/india_sex_selection/Chapter4.pdf|archive-date=15 April 2012}}</ref> since the inauguration of several new stations in 2006.<ref name=asiawaves>{{cite web|url=https://www.asiawaves.net/india/delhi-radio.htm|title=Delhi: Radio Stations in Delhi, India|access-date=7 January 2007|date=15 November 2006|work=ASIAWAVES: Radio and TV Broadcasting in South and South-East Asia|publisher=Alan G. Davies|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427155629/https://www.asiawaves.net/india/delhi-radio.htm|archive-date=27 April 2012}}</ref> A number of state-owned and private radio stations broadcast from Delhi.<ref>{{cite web|title=All India Radio |url=https://india.gov.in/knowindia/radio.php |publisher=Indian government |access-date=30 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505053343/https://india.gov.in/knowindia/radio.php |archive-date=5 May 2012 }}</ref><ref name=asiawaves/>

== Sports == {{Main|Sport in Delhi|1951 Asian Games|1982 Asian Games|2010 Commonwealth Games}}

{{See also|Culture of India}} {{multiple image | perrow = 2 | align = left | total_width = 400 | caption_align = center | image1 = Indian athletes at the First Asiad.png|thumb | caption1 = Indian athletes marching into the National Stadium during the opening ceremony of the 1951 Asian Games | image2 = Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium CWG opening ceremony.jpg | caption2 = Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on the night of the 2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony }}

Delhi hosted the first Asian Games in 1951 from 4 to 11 March. A total of 489 athletes representing 11 Asian National Olympic Committees participated in 57 events from eight sports and discipline. The Games was the successor of the Far Eastern Games and the revival of the Western Asiatic Games. On 13 February 1949, the Asian Games Federation was formally established in Delhi, with Delhi unanimously announced as the first host city of the Asian Games. National Stadium was the venue for all events.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ocasia.org/games/107-new-delhi-1951.html|title=OCA » New Delhi 1951|website=ocasia.org|access-date=23 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620010356/https://ocasia.org/games/107-new-delhi-1951.html|archive-date=20 June 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Over 40,000 spectators watched the opening ceremony of the Games in National Stadium.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yANFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4573,1745099&dq=1951+asian+games&hl=en|title=President Inaugurates First Asian Games|work=The India Express|access-date=14 May 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117040350/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yANFAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Z7cMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4573,1745099&dq=1951+asian+games&hl=en|archive-date=17 November 2015|location=Madras|page=5}}</ref>

Delhi hosted the ninth Asian Games for the second time in 1982 from 19 November to 4 December. This was the second time the city has hosted the Asian Games and was also the first Asian Games to be held under the aegis of the Olympic Council of Asia. A total of 3,411 athletes from 33 National Olympic Committees participated in these games, competing in 196 events in 21 sports and 23 disciplines. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which has a capacity of 60,000 people, was built purposely for the event and hosted its opening ceremony.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ocasia.org/games/99-new-delhi-1982.html|title=OCA » New Delhi 1982|website=ocasia.org|access-date=23 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702203732/https://ocasia.org/games/99-new-delhi-1982.html|archive-date=2 July 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

Delhi hosted the Nineteenth Commonwealth Games in 2010, which ran from 3 to 14 October and was the largest sporting event held in India.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/oct/03/commonwealth-games-opening-ceremony-delhi-india |title='India has arrived': spectacular ceremony opens Commonwealth Games |publisher=The Guardian, UK |date= 3 October 2010|access-date=5 October 2010 | location=London | first=Jason | last=Burke| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101006004503/https://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/oct/03/commonwealth-games-opening-ceremony-delhi-india| archive-date= 6 October 2010| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/commonwealthgames/8039988/Commonwealth-Games-2010-India-opens-doors-to-the-world-at-opening-ceremony.html |title=Commonwealth Games 2010: India opens doors to the world at opening ceremony |work=The Telegraph|date=3 October 2010|access-date=5 October 2010 | location=London | first=Simon | last=Hart| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101006045221/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/commonwealthgames/8039988/Commonwealth-Games-2010-India-opens-doors-to-the-world-at-opening-ceremony.html| archive-date= 6 October 2010| url-status=live}}</ref> The opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main stadium of the event, in New Delhi at 7:00&nbsp;pm Indian Standard Time on 3 October 2010.<ref>{{cite news |agency=Press Trust of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Biggest-ever-Commonwealth-Games-begins-in-Delhi/articleshow/6678262.cms |title=Biggest ever Commonwealth Games begins in Delhi|date=3 October 2010 |access-date=14 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103150529/https://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-10-03/delhi/28248198_1_cheers-and-jeers-commonwealth-games-federation-federation-president-mike-fennell |archive-date=3 November 2012 |work=The Times of India |url-status=live }}</ref> The ceremony featured over 8,000 performers and lasted for two and a half hours.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.oneindia.com/2010/10/03/cwg-8000-artists-to-show-5000-year-old-culture.html |title= CWG: 8,000 artists to show 5,000-year-old culture |publisher= One India News |date = 3 October 2010|access-date= 4 September 2011|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120104153835/https://news.oneindia.in/2010/10/03/cwg-8000-artists-to-show-5000-year-old-culture.html|archive-date = 4 January 2012}}</ref> It is estimated that {{INRConvert|3.5|b}} were spent to produce the ceremony.<ref>{{cite news |url = https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/randomaccess/the-cwg-opening-show-reality-rs-350-crore/ |title = The CWG opening show reality: Rs 350 crore |newspaper = The Times of India |date = 5 October 2010|access-date = 4 September 2011|url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110319040638/https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/randomaccess/entry/the-cwg-opening-show-reality-rs-350-crore |archive-date = 19 March 2011}}</ref> Events took place at 12 competition venues. 20 training venues were used in the Games, including seven venues within Delhi University.<ref name="Non-Competition Venues">{{cite web | title = Non-Competition Venues | publisher=Commonwealth Games Organising Committee | url = https://www.cwgdelhi2010.org/non_competition_venues | access-date =1 October 2010 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100927033237/https://www.cwgdelhi2010.org/non_competition_venues| archive-date= 27 September 2010| url-status=usurped}}</ref> The rugby stadium in Delhi University North Campus hosted rugby games for Commonwealth Games.<ref name="Non-Competition Venues" />

Cricket and football are the most popular sports in Delhi.<ref name="popular">{{cite web |url=https://www.aipsmedia.com/index.php?page=interview&cod=4 |title=Cricket may be included in the 2010 Games |access-date=7 January 2007|last=Camenzuli |first=Charles |work=Interview |publisher=International Sports Press Association |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929074954/https://www.aipsmedia.com/index.php?page=interview&cod=4 |archive-date=29 September 2007}}</ref> There are several cricket grounds, or ''maidans'', located across the city. The Arun Jaitley Stadium (known commonly as the ''Kotla'') is one of the oldest cricket grounds in India and is a venue for international cricket matches. It is the home ground of Delhi cricket team and the Indian Premier League franchise Delhi Capitals.<ref>{{Cite web |title=All about Delhi Capitals {{!}} DC {{!}} The Official Website of Delhi Capitals |url=https://www.delhicapitals.in/about-us |access-date=28 February 2023 |website=Delhi Capitals |language=en |archive-date=28 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228045335/https://www.delhicapitals.in/about-us |url-status=live }}</ref> The Delhi cricket team represents the city in the Indian domestic tournaments.<ref name="ranji">{{cite web|url=https://content.cricinfo.com/india/content/story/261615.html|title=A Brief History: The Ranji Trophy|access-date=6 January 2007|publisher=ESPNcricinfo|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421162143/https://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/261615.html|archive-date=21 April 2012|date=2 October 2006}}</ref> It has produced several world-class international cricketers such as Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/new-zealand-in-india-2016/virat-kohli-delhis-golden-boy-since-2002/articleshow/51667800.cms|title=Virat Kohli: Delhi's golden boy since 2002|work=The Times of India|date=3 April 2016 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427012859/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/icc-world-t20-2016/Virat-Kohli-Delhis-golden-boy-since-2002/articleshow/51667800.cms|archive-date=27 April 2016}}</ref> Gautam Gambhir, Madan Lal, Chetan Chauhan, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma, Manoj Prabhakar and Bishan Singh Bedi to name a few. The Railways and Services cricket teams of domestic circuit also play their home matches in Delhi, at the Karnail Singh Stadium and the Palam A Stadium, respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Karnail Singh Stadium |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/ground/58045.html |access-date=28 February 2023 |website=Cricinfo |archive-date=28 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228045334/https://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/ground/58045.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ambedkar Stadium, a football stadium in Delhi which holds 21,000 people, was the venue for the Indian football team's World Cup qualifier against UAE on 28 July 2012.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ambedkar stadium to host India's World Cup qualifier|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/top-stories/Ambedkar-stadium-to-host-Indias-World-Cup-qualifier/articleshow/9027132.cms|access-date=17 May 2012|date=28 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105200038/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-28/top-stories/29712461_1_dsa-vice-president-nk-bhatia-ambedkar-stadium-football-stadium|archive-date=5 November 2012|newspaper=The Times of India|url-status=live}}</ref> Delhi hosted the Nehru Cup in 2007<ref>{{cite web|title=Bob Houghton's Boys made India proud with a superb victory over Syria |url=https://www.kolkatafootballs.com/ongc_nehru_2007.html |work=17 May 2012 |publisher=KolkataFootballs.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110183327/https://www.kolkatafootballs.com/ongc_nehru_2007.html |archive-date=10 November 2013 }}</ref> and 2009, in both of which India defeated Syria 1–0.<ref>{{cite web|title=India vs Syria Nehru Cup 2009 Football Final Results, Highlights |url=https://www.clbuzz.com/india-vs-syria-nehru-cup-2009-football-final-results-highlights/ |publisher=CLbuzz |access-date=17 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008132055/https://www.clbuzz.com/india-vs-syria-nehru-cup-2009-football-final-results-highlights/ |archive-date=8 October 2011}}</ref> Delhi's professional association football club Delhi FC competes in I-League.<ref>{{cite news|title=Delhi FC secure maiden I-League berth|url=https://www.thehindu.com/sport/football/delhi-fc-secure-maiden-i-league-berth/article66898411.ece|access-date=6 July 2023|date=27 May 2023|newspaper=The Hindu|archive-date=6 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706030319/https://www.thehindu.com/sport/football/delhi-fc-secure-maiden-i-league-berth/article66898411.ece|url-status=live}}</ref> In the Elite Football League of India, Delhi's first professional American football franchise, the Delhi Defenders played its first season in Pune.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Sean |last=Gregory |url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2011/08/04/they-need-tv-product-why-american-football-is-coming-to-india/ |title='They Need TV Product': Why American Football Is Coming To India |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125025255/https://newsfeed.time.com/2011/08/04/they-need-tv-product-why-american-football-is-coming-to-india/ |archive-date=25 November 2011 |date=4 August 2011}}</ref> Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, a suburb of Delhi, formerly hosted the Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix.<ref>{{cite news|title=India company says on track for 2011 F1 race|url=https://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-39048520090415?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true|date=15 April 2009|work=Reuters|access-date=21 October 2009|archive-date=30 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930185547/https://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-39048520090415?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== City-based clubs === {| class="wikitable" |+ !Club !Sport !League/Championship !Homeground !Founded |- |Dabang Delhi |Kabaddi |Pro Kabaddi League |Thyagaraj Sports Complex |2014 |- |Delhi Dashers |Badminton |Premier Badminton League |Siri Fort Sports Complex |2016 |- |Delhi Defenders |American Football |Elite Football League of India |Defenders Stadium |2011 |- |Delhi Hurricanes Rugby Football Club |Rugby |All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament |Vasant Kunj Sports Complex |2004 |- |Delhi Waveriders |Hockey |Hockey India League |Shivaji Hockey Stadium |2011 |- |Delhi Capitals |Cricket |Indian Premier League |Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium |2008 |- | Delhi FC | Football | I-League | Ambedkar Stadium | 1994–present |- | Delhi SG Pipers | Hockey | Hockey India League | Shivaji Hockey Stadium | 2024 |}

== See also == {{Portal|India}} * Delhi metropolitan area * List of people from Delhi * List of twin towns and sister cities in India * Smog tower

== Notes == {{Notelist|40em}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

== Further reading == {{Refbegin}} * {{cite web|url=https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/ES2005-06.htm |title=Economic Survey of Delhi 2005–2006 |work=Planning Department. Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215014054/https://delhiplanning.nic.in/Economic%20Survey/ES%202005-06/ES2005-06.htm |access-date=12 February 2007|archive-date=15 February 2016 }} * {{Cite book|last1 = Dalrymple|given1 = W|year = 2003|edition = 1|title=City of Djinns | publisher = Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-200100-4}} * {{Cite book|last1 = Dalrymple|given1 = W|year = 2003|edition = 1|title=Vidhya Society, (2009). Vidhya Society (NGO) is a leading charitable organization of Uttar Pradesh (India) established under society registration act 21–1860 on the special occasion of World Disable Year 2009. Director Mr. Pavan Upadhyay vidhyasociety.com | publisher = Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-200100-4}} * {{Cite book|last1 = Prager|given1 = D|year = 2013|edition = 1|title=Delirious Delhi | publisher = Arcade Publishing |isbn=978-1-61145-832-9}} * {{Cite book|last1 = Brown|given1 = L|year = 2011|edition = 5|title = Lonely Planet Rajasthan, Delhi & Agra|publisher = Lonely Planet Publications|isbn = 978-1-74179-460-1|url-access = registration|url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781741794601}} * {{Cite book|last1 = Rowe|given1 = P|surname2= Coster|given2= P|year = 2004|title=Delhi (Great Cities of the World)|publisher= World Almanac Library|isbn = 978-0-8368-5197-7}} * {{Cite news|title=Metrocity Journal: Delhi's Changing Landscape|author=Four-part series on Delhi|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=2 June 2012|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/05/30/metrocity-journal-delhis-changing-landscape/|access-date=4 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709134834/https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/05/30/metrocity-journal-delhis-changing-landscape/|archive-date=9 July 2017|url-status=live}} {{refend}}

== External links == {{Sister project links|voy=Delhi}}

* {{Official website|delhi.gov.in}} * {{GovPubs|Delhi}} * {{Britannica|156501}} * {{Wikiatlas|Delhi}} * {{osmrelation-inline|1942586}}

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