Twenty-three states and union territories faced normal or more than normal rainfall until July 3, narrowing the deficit further to 4.4 percent from 4.6 percent earlier, according to data released by the Indian Meteorological Department.
The deficit has narrowed from 18.8 percent to 4.4 percent within a week.
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were among the four states with a rainfall surplus of over 60 percent, while another seven faced excess or large excess rainfall until Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the weather forecaster noted that the monsoon arrived six days early across the country.
Chandigarh’s deficit narrowed to 55 percent, with Jharkhand being the only other state to face over 50 percent deficiency.
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 power situation in the country improved further on July 2, as the country witnessed a fourth consecutive day of less than 1 million units of power shortage.
The power shortage was primarily due to Bihar.
The reservoir situation would likely have improved over the week.
The reservoir level situation worsened in the week until June 27. Reservoir levels were down 16.7 percent from normal as of June 27, compared with 9 percent in the previous week.
Bihar and Andhra Pradesh have an over 50 percent deficit in reservoir levels.
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.
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