India saw the lowest level of monsoon rainfall this year since 2018 as the El Nino weather pattern made August the driest in more than a century, the state-run weather department said on Saturday.
The summer rainfall deficit is likely to affect agricultural production, making staples such as sugar, pulses, rice and vegetables more expensive and lifting overall food inflation.
The monsoon, which is vital for India’s $3 trillion economy, brings nearly 70% of the rain the country needs to water crops and replenish reservoirs and aquifers.
Nearly half of the farmland in the world’s most populous nation lacks irrigation, making the monsoon rains even more vital for agricultural production.
Lower production could also prompt India, the world’s second-biggest producer of rice, wheat, and sugar, to impose more curbs on exports of these commodities amid soaring global food prices.
