The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in consultation with Central Pollution Control Board has reclassified the industries into “Red”, “Orange”, “Green” and “White” category, as part of policies and objective of government to promote ‘Ease of Doing Responsible Business.
The Pollution Index PI of any industrial sector is a number from 0 to 100 and the increasing value of PI denotes the increasing degree of pollution load from the industrial sector. Based on the series of brain storming sessions among CPCB, SPCBs and MoEFCC , the following criteria on ‘Range of Pollution Index ‘for the purpose of categorization of industrial sectors is finalized.
Industrial Sectors having Pollution Index score of 60 and above – Red category
Industrial Sectors having Pollution Index score of 41 to 59 – Orange category
Industrial Sectors having Pollution Index score of 21 to 40 – Green category
Industrial Sectors having Pollution Index score incl &upto 20 – White category
Projects under the new category of “white”, which is practically non-polluting, will not require either Environmental Clearance under Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 or Consent under Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
List of White Category Industries
| Sl. No. | Industry Sector |
| 1. | Air coolers /conditioners |
| 2. | Bicycles, baby carriages |
| 3. | Bailing of waste papers |
| 4. | Bio fertilizer /bio-pesticides |
| 5. | Biscuits trays |
| 6. | Blending / packing of tea |
| 7. | Block making of printing |
| 8. | Chalk making |
| 9. | Compressed oxygen gas |
| 10. | Cotton and woolen hosiers |
| 11. | Diesel pump repairing |
| 12. | Electric lamp ( bulb) and CFL |
| 13. | Electrical and electronic item |
| 14. | Engineering and fabrication units |
| 15. | Flavoured betel nuts |
| 16. | Fly ash bricks/ block |
| 17. | Fountain pen |
| 18. | Glass ampules |
| 19. | Glass putty and sealant |
| 20. | Ground nut decorticating |
| 21. | Handloom/ carpet weaving |
| 22. | Leather cutting and stitching |
| 23. | Coir items from coconut husks |
| 24. | Metal caps containers etc |
| 25. | Shoe brush and wire brush |
| 26. | Medical oxygen |
| 27. | Organic and inorganic nutrients |
| 28. | Organic manure |
| 29. | Packing of powdered milk |
| 30. | Paper pins and u clips |
| 31. | Repairing of electric motors /generators |
| 32. | Rope (plastic and cotton) |
| 33. | Scientific and mathematical instrument |
| 34. | Solar module non-conventional energy apparatus |
| 35. | Solar power generation through solar photovoltaic cell, wind power and mini hydel power (less than 25 MW) |
| 36. | Surgical and medical products assembling |
List of Red Category of Industries
| Sl No. | Industry Sector | Sl No. | Industry Sector |
| 1 | Isolated storage of hazardous chemicals | 39 | Yarn / Textile processing |
| 2 | Automobile Manufacturing (integrated) | 40 | Chlor Alkali |
| 3 | Hazardous waste recycling (Spent cleared metal catalyst ) | 41 | Ship Breaking |
| 4 | Lubricating oils and grease mfg. | 42 | Oil and gas extraction |
| 5 | DG Set (> 5 MVA) | 43 | Metal surface treatment |
| 6 | Carbon black & allied | 44 | Tanneries |
| 7 | Lead acid battery | 45 | Ports /harbor/jetties |
| 8 | Phosphate rock processing | 46 | Synthetic fibers |
| 9 | Power generation plant | 47 | Thermal Power Plants |
| 10 | Hazardous Waste Recyclers (Spent catalyst) | 48 | Slaughter house |
| 11 | Chlorinated hydrocarbons | 49 | Aluminium Smelter |
| 12 | Sugar | 50 | Copper Smelter |
| 13 | Fibre glass production | 51 | Fertilizer (basic) |
| 14 | Fire crackers | 52 | Integrated Iron & Steel |
| 15 | E-Waste Recyclers | 53 | Pulp & Paper ( bleaching) |
| 15 | Milk and dairy products | 54 | Zinc Smelter |
| 17 | Phosphorous | 55 | Oil Refinery |
| 18 | Pulp & Paper | 56 | Petrochemicals |
| 19 | Coke making | 57 | Pharmaceuticals |
| 20 | Explosives / detonators | 58 | Pulp & Paper ( Large-Agro + wood), |
| 21 | Paints varnishes, pigments | 59 | Distillery |
| 22 | Organic Chemicals | 60 | Railway locomotive work shop/ service centers |
| 23 | Airports and Commercial Air Strips | ||
| 24 | Asbestos | ||
| 25 | Basic chemicals | ||
| 26 | Cement | ||
| 27 | Chlorates, per-chlorates & peroxides | ||
| 28 | Chlorine, fluorine, bromine, iodine | ||
| 29 | Dyes and Dye- Intermediates | ||
| 30 | Health-care Establishment | ||
| 31 | Hotels (Big) | ||
| 32 | Lead acid battery -recyclers | ||
| 33 | Waste electrical and electronic recyclers | ||
| 34 | Glue and gelatin | ||
| 35 | Mining and ore beneficiation | ||
| 36 | Nuclear power plant | ||
| 37 | Pesticides | ||
| 38 | Photographic film /chemicals | ||
List of Orange Category of Industries
| Sl. No. | Industry Sector | Sl. No. | Industry Sector |
| 1 | Almirah, Grill Manufacturing | 43 | Large Cotton spinning and weaving |
| 2 | Aluminium & copper extraction from scrap | 44 | Lime manufacturing (using lime kiln) |
| 3 | Automobile servicing, repairing | 45 | Liquid floor cleaner, black phenyl |
| 4 | Ayurvedic and homeopathic medicine | 46 | Manufacturing of glass |
| 5 | Brickfields | 47 | Manufacturing of mirror from sheet glass |
| 6 | Building and construction >20,000 sq. m | 48 | Manufacturing of mosquito repellent coil |
| 7 | Cashew nut processing | 49 | Manufacturing of Starch/Sago |
| 8 | Ceramics and Refractories | 50 | Mechanized laundry using oil fired boiler |
| 9 | Chanachur and ladoo using husk fired oven | 51 | Medium scale Hotels |
| 10 | Coal washeries | 52 | Modular wooden furniture |
| 11 | Coated electrode | 53 | New highway construction project |
| 12 | Coffee seed processing | 54 | Non-alcoholic beverages(soft drink) |
| 13 | Compact disc computer floppy | 55 | Paint blending and mixing (Ball mill) |
| 14 | Copper waste recyclers | 56 | Paints and varnishes (mixing and blending) |
| 15 | Dairy and dairy products ( small scale) | 57 | Parboiled Rice Mills |
| 16 | DG set ( >1MVA but < 5MVA) | 58 | Pharmaceutical formulation |
| 17 | Dismantling of rolling stocks | 59 | Ply-board manufacturing |
| 18 | Dry cell battery | 60 | Potable alcohol ( IMFL) by blending |
| 19 | Dry coal / mineral processing | 61 | Printing ink manufacturing |
| 20 | Fermentation (Extra Neutral Alcohol) | 62 | Printing or etching of glass sheet |
| 21 | Ferrous and Non- ferrous metal extraction | 63 | Printing press |
| 22 | Fertilizer (granulation / formulation / blending | 64 | Producer gas plant |
| 23 | Fish feed, poultry feed and cattle feed | 65 | Recyclers – used oils |
| 24 | Fish processing and packing | 66 | REcyclers – waste oils |
| 25 | Flakes from rejected PET bottle | 67 | Recycling – Paint and ink Sludge |
| 26 | Foam manufacturing | 68 | Reprocessing of waste plastic /PVC |
| 27 | Food and food processing | 69 | Rolling mill (oil or coal fired) |
| 28 | Forging of ferrous and non- ferrous | 70 | Silica gel |
| 29 | Formulation/pelletization of camphor tablets etc. | 71 | Silk /saree screen printing |
| 30 | Glass ceramics, earthen potteries and tile | 72 | Spray painting |
| 31 | Gravure printing, digital printing on flex, v | 73 | Steel and steel products with furnaces |
| 32 | Heat treatment using oil fired furnace | 74 | Stone crushers |
| 33 | Hot mix plants | 75 | Surgical and medical products (latex) |
| 34 | Ice cream | 76 | Synthetic detergents and soaps |
| 35 | Industry or processes involving foundry operations | 77 | Synthetic resins |
| 36 | Iodized salt from crude/ raw salt | 78 | Synthetic rubber excluding molding |
| 37 | Jute processing without dyeing | 79 | Tephlon based products |
| 38 | large Bakery and confectionery | 80 | Thermocol manufacturing ( with boiler) |
| 39 | Transformer repairing/ manufacturing | 81 | Thermometer |
| 40 | Tyres and tubes vulcanization/ hot retread | 82 | Tobacco products including cigarettes |
| 41 | Vegetable oil manufacturing | 83 | Tooth powder, toothpaste, talcum powder |
| 42 | Wire drawing and wire netting | ||
List of Green category of Industries
| Sl. No. | Industry Sector | Sl. No. | Industry Sector |
| 1 | Aluminium utensils | 36 | Ready mix cement concrete |
| 2 | Ayurvedic medicines | 37 | Reprocessing of waste cotton |
| 3 | Small Bakery /confectionery | 38 | Rice mill (Rice hullers only) |
| 4 | PP film | 39 | Rolling mill ( gas fired) and cold rolling mill |
| 5 | Biomass briquettes | 40 | Rubber goods (gas operated baby boiler) |
| 6 | Melamine resins | 41 | Saw mills |
| 7 | Brass and bell metal utensils | 42 | Soap manufacturing |
| 8 | Candy | 43 | Spice Blending |
| 9 | Cardboard / corrugated box | 44 | Spice grinding |
| 10 | Carpentry & wooden furniture | 45 | Steel furniture |
| 11 | Cement products | 46 | Grains processing |
| 12 | Ceramic colour by mixing | 47 | Tyres /tube retreating |
| 13 | Chilling plant and ice making | 48 | Chilling /ice plant |
| 14 | Coke briquetting | 49 | CO2 recovery |
| 15 | Small Cotton spinning and weaving | 50 | Distilled water |
| 16 | Dal Mills | 51 | Small Hotels |
| 17 | Decoration of ceramic cups | 52 | Optical lenses |
| 18 | Digital printing on PVC clothes | 53 | Mineralized water |
| 19 | Handling, storage of food grains | 54 | Tamarind powder |
| 20 | Flour mills | 55 | Marble stone |
| 21 | Electrical Glass , ceramic, earthen potteries | 56 | Emery powder |
| 22 | Glue from starch | 57 | Flyash export |
| 23 | Gold and silver smithy | 58 | Mineral stack yard |
| 24 | Non-polluting Heat treatment | 59 | Oil and gas transportation pipeline |
| 25 | Insulation /coated papers | 60 | Seasoning of wood |
| 26 | Leather foot wear /products | 61 | Synthetic detergent |
| 27 | Blending of Lubricating oil, greases | 62 | Tea processing |
| 28 | Pasted veneers | 63 | Pulverization of bamboo |
| 29 | Oil mill Ghani | ||
| 30 | Packing materials | ||
| 31 | Phenyl/toilet cleaner | ||
| 32 | Polythene and plastic products | ||
| 33 | Poultry, Hatchery and Piggery | ||
| 34 | Power looms (without dye and bleaching) | ||
| 35 | Puffed rice (muri) (gas or electrical heating) | ||