MC Daily Monsoon Tracker: Rainfall surplus increases further to highest level of 4% since start of monsoon season

Rainfall surplus increases further

Rainfall surplus increased further to over 4 percent as of August 2, the highest since the start of monsoon, as central and some parts of north and northeast India continued to receive excess rainfall for second day in a row.

The country received 68 percent excess rainfall on August 4, with West Bengal receiving 508 percent more rainfall on the day compared with normal. The country received 3 percent higher than normal rainfall between June 1 and August 2.

Reservoir levels improved significantly, as the country’s 150 reservoirs registered a 7 percent higher than normal storage as of August 1 compared with 4 percent deficit previous week.

Punjab’s reservoirs had 80 percent storage below normal.

Northern and eastern regions have been worst affected. Northern states had a storage deficit of 38 percent, while eastern regions had a 12 percent deficit, with Bihar having 67 percent storage deficit.

In the case of rainfall, eleven states and union territories continued to witness deficient rainfall conditions, according to data released by India Meteorological Department. Chandigarh had the highest deficit at 50 percent. Punjab is witnessing a 38 percent rainfall deficit.

A normal is calculated using a long-period average of 30 years for a specific region.

IMD has predicted above normal rainfall in the second phase of monsoon (August-September).

Despite normal rainfall, the impact on sowing has been limited, with acreage just 2.3 percent higher than the previous year as of July 26.

Rice sowing was flat from the previous year at 216 million hectares as of July 26 compared with 216.4 million hectare the previous year, while pulses sowing was up 14 percent. Major rice growing states like Haryana and Punjab continue to witness over 40 percent rainfall deficit.

Coarse cereals sowing is up 5 percent from the previous year, jute and cotton sowing was down 6.9 percent from the previous year.  West Bengal had 12 percent deficit as of July 30.

The government is hoping for a revival of its agricultural sector, which recorded 1.4 percent growth in FY24 compared to 4.7 percent in the previous year, also lower than the 3.7 percent long-term average.