India likely to get normal monsoon this year: Skymet

India is expected to see a normal monsoon in 2024, private weather forecasting agency Skymet said on Tuesday, promising some respite after a prediction of more-than-normal heat wave days in the summer preceding the June-September rainy season.

Monsoon rains are expected to be 102% of the long-period average of 868.6 mm for the four-month period, Skymet said.

The Indian Meteorological Department has predicted that in the April-June period, various parts of the country could record 10-20 heat wave days compared to the normal four to eight days.

Nearly half of India's farmland, which has no irrigation cover, depends on the annual June-September rains to grow crops such as rice, corn, cane, cotton and soybeans.