MC Daily Monsoon Tracker: India’s rainfall deficit turns to surplus

Rainfall deficit turns into surplus

After over a month, India turned into rainfall surplus on Sunday, with the country receiving rainfall 1 percent above the normal, according to data released by the Indian Meteorological Department.

Only six states now face a rainfall deficit, compared with ten on July 5 and 17 in the previous week.

Chandigarh is the only region in the country with over 50 percent rainfall deficit.

Rainfall over the last week has also helped restore reservoir levels. India’s reservoir level deficit narrowed to 10 percent compared with 17 percent last week.

Andhra Pradesh and Bihar continue to face over 70 percent deficit in capacity.

In monsoon parlance, a normal is calculated using a long-period average of 30 years for a specific region.

Data released last week showed Kharif sowing was up 33 percent as of June 28 from the previous year. Pulses sowing was up 181 percent, whereas oilseeds witnessed an over 150 percent rise in acreage. Rice acreage was largely unchanged at 2.2 million hectares.

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.