India's Age-Old Dependence on Monsoon Rain Is Slowly Fading Away
- More farmers relying on other income for household expenses
- Soft global food, oil prices to keep inflation in check
Flower vendors take shelter from the rain under an umbrella at the Dadar wholesale flower market in Mumbai.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
For millennia, India’s rulers have been held hostage to something they can’t control: monsoon rains. That’s now starting to wane.
Despite being poised for a second straight year of below-average rainfall, growth is set to accelerate and inflation is slowing. Falling global commodity prices are allowing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to import more food, while better roads mean rural Indians have more options for earning cash.