India Predicts Ample Monsoon Rain Next Month in Boost to Crops

  • Precipitation seen more than 109% of long-term average
  • Some areas at high risk of extremely heavy rainfall, floods

Rice saplings at a paddy field on the outskirts of Mumbai. 

Photographer: SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
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India is forecast to receive above-normal rains in the last month of the June-September monsoon season, brightening prospects for a bumper harvest for crops such as rice and soybeans.

Precipitation is expected to be more than 109% of the long-term average of 167.9 millimeters (6.6 inches), Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of the India Meteorological Department, said at a briefing in New Delhi on Saturday.