Exclusive: India faces record low August rains, threatening summer crops

Rajendra Jadhav - Reuters - 18/08
India is heading for its driest August in more than a century, with scant rainfall likely to persist across large areas, partly because of the El Niño weather pattern, two weather department officials told Reuters on Friday.

MUMBAI, Aug 18 (Reuters) - India is heading for its driest August in more than a century, with scant rainfall likely to persist across large areas, partly because of the El Niño weather pattern, two weather department officials told Reuters on Friday.

August rainfall, expected to be the lowest since records began in 1901, could dent yields of summer-sown crops, from rice to soybeans, boosting prices and overall food inflation, which jumped in July to the highest since January 2020.

The monsoon, vital for the $3-trillion economy, delivers nearly 70% of the rain India needs to water farms and refill reservoirs and aquifers.

"The monsoon is not reviving as we had expected," said a senior official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), who sought anonymity as the matter is a sensitive one.

"We are going to end the month with a significant deficit in the southern, western, and central parts."

India is on course to receive an...
[Short citation of 8% of the original article]