Monsoon rains likely to cover entire India in next 48 hours – weather office

NEW DELHI : Monsoon rains will cover the whole of India in the next 48 hours, the country’s weather office said on Monday, boosting hopes of a rise in farm output and incomes after two straight years of drought.

The monsoon has yet to cover parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat and rains will be 107 percent of long period average in July, B.P. Yadav, head of the national weather forecasting centre of the India Meteorological Department told Reuters.

Monsoon rains, the lifeblood of India’s agriculture-dependent economy, arrived a week later than usual this year and are crucial for the planting of summer-sown crops such as cotton, rice, soybean and sugar.