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Monsoon makes 'excellent' progress across India

India's monsoon rains, crucial to the outlook for the economy, have made excellent progress, covering nearly all of the country, a weather department official said on Monday.

Plentiful monsoon rains are needed for a good harvest which boost rural incomes and lift consumption in the mainly agricultural country. India is counting on a good monsoon this year to reverse an economic slowdown.

"The monsoon's progress is excellent. The entire country has been covered by the monsoon rains. Only some parts of western Rajasthan are left," S R Kalsi, deputy director general of the India Meteorological Department, said.

Kalsi said so far the country as a whole had received 147 mm of rainfall compared with the normal 93 mm of rains and the southwest monsoon was advancing as per predictions.

Kalsi said the rains were centered in the northern plains of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and parts of Madhya Pradesh in central India. Punjab and Haryana contribute the bulk of the country's wheat output and are leading rice-growing centres.

The IMD said last month it expected the June-September monsoon which provides 80 per cent of the country's rainfall to be normal this year.

Officials define a monsoon as normal if the overall rainfall is 10 per cent above or below the long-term average. The department expected this year's monsoon rainfall to be 98 per cent of the long-term average.

This year the southwest monsoon hit the Kerala coast on May 23, seven days earlier than due.

Weather department officials said the monsoon was keeping up its momentum and arrived almost a week ahead of schedule in the northern region on Sunday.

Kalsi said the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, hit by two years of drought, had received "very good rains". Gujarat mainly grows groundnut and cotton and Madhya Pradesh is the country's soybean bowl. It also grows wheat.

While the weather was clear now in Gujarat, Kalsi said the state "has got enough rains and water availability-wise the position is good".

Last year, the department forecast a normal monsoon for the twelfth year in a row but western and central parts of the country received less rainfall than expected.

Poor rains during the past two years hurt the livelihoods of millions of people and killed thousands of cattle in central and western India.

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