India received 57% lower rainfall than average in the first week of June, weather office data showed on Wednesday, after the monsoon's onset over its southern coast was delayed by the formation of a cyclone.
In the week to June 7, India received 9.9 mm rainfall against the normal 23.1 mm, according to the state-run India Meteorological Department .
The monsoon, the lifeblood of the country's $3 trillion economy, delivers nearly 70% of the rain India needs to water farms and recharge reservoirs and aquifers. Rains usually lash the southern state of Kerala around June 1 and cover the whole country by mid-July. This year, the IMD was expecting the arrival of monsoon rains over the state's coast on June 4, but it hasn't reached yet.
The formation of a very severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy in the Arabian Sea has been affecting the onset of monsoon, said a senior IMD official, who declined to be named as he is not authorised to talk to media.Nearly half of India's farmland, without any irrigation cover, depends on the annual June-September rains to grow several crops. The monsoon's late start could delay the planting of rice, cotton, corn, soybean and sugar cane, traders said.
However, for the entire four-month season, the IMD has forecast an average amount of rain despite the formation of a possible El Nino weather phenomenon.
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