Monsoon rains will hit tip of Kerala around June 1 and retreat by September.
Shares of agriculture-related companies gained after the weather department predicted normal monsoon rains for the current year raising expectations of higher farm output and rural incomes. Shares of tractor makers Mahindra & Mahindra advanced as much as 3.68 per cent and Escorts advanced 3.2 per cent. Fertiliser makers were also witnessing buying interest after weather department’s comments on monsoon normal rainfall. Shares of National Fertilisers advanced as much as 4.47 per cent, Tata Chemicals rose 1.8 per cent, GNFC rose 3.2 per cent, GSFC climbed 3.2 per cent, Deepak Fertilisers added 2 per cent and Zuari Global rose 2.8 per cent.
Monsoon rainfall is expected to total 98 per cent of the long-term average, M. Rajeevan, secretary at the Ministry of Earth Sciences, told a virtual news conference.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) defines average, or normal, rainfall as between 96 per cent and 104 per cent of a 50-year average of 88 cm (34 inches) for the entire four-month season beginning June.
Normal monsoon bodes well for the economy as it delivers nearly 70 per cent of rains that India needs to water farms and recharge reservoirs and aquifers.
Nearly half of India’s farmland, without any irrigation cover, depends on annual June-September rains to grow crops such as rice, corn, cane, cotton and soybeans.
Farming accounts for nearly 15 per cent of the country’s economy but sustains more than half of India’s 130 crore people.
Monsoon rains will hit tip of Kerala around June 1 and retreat by September.
Shares of irrigation products makers Jain Irrigation Systems and Finolex Industries also rose around 1 per cent.
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