MC Daily Monsoon Tracker: Rainfall deficit narrows further to 1%

Rainfall deficit narrows further to 1 percent

India’s rainfall deficit narrowed further to lowest level of 1 percent as of July 21, as a number of states where the rain was deficient declined to 10 from 12,  data released by the India Meteorological Department (IMD)shows.

The number of states with normal monsoon rain rose back to 16, with 10 states getting excessive or "large excess" rainfall.

Uneven distribution of rainfall has been a concern, as several places have reported record rain, sometimes a month's rainfall has poured in a day, causing damage to life and property. Unequal rain also poses a risk to agriculture, fuelling inflation worries.

Northwest, east and northeast continue to face worse weather conditions. Chandigarh and Jharkhand continue to have a deficit of over 50 percent, with Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and neighbouring Haryana still 40 percent short of the normal rain.

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

Uneven rainfall distribution contributed to rise in reservoir deficit to 13 percent as of July 18 against 10 percent in the previous week, data released by Central Water Commission shows.

Andhra Pradesh and Bihar continue to face over 60 percent deficit in capacity.

The government is yet to release acreage data but paddy, pulses and oilseeds acereage, as of July 12, was over 20 percent higher from year-ago period. Area under paddy and pulses was 11.6 million hectares and 6.2 million hectares, whereas oilseeds covered 14 million hectares.

Sowing under coarse cereals was down 7 percent.

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