According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), monsoon rains in India were 2% below average in week to Aug 15, reports said.

Whereas, the monsoon deficit of the season till Aug 15 has narrowed to 15% of the long period average.

In July, the wettest month of the season and also the key planting month, the rains were about 13% below average. Rains picked up during the month of July as compared with the first month of the season when the rains were 29% below average.

Still, problems are far from over as two and a half months of the four-month long season are already over and if the monsoon does not continue to show improvement, inflationary pressures, especially food inflation, would most likely be stoked again.

The government has taken steps to cut irrigation costs and increase fodder supplies for livestock farmers. But it has avoided imposing any curb on exports of agricultural products or a ban of futures trading in them.
In India, where agriculture and farming account for 15% of the $2tn economy, timely and sufficient rainfall is extremely crucial as 55% of the arable land depends on rains for water needs.

Earlier this month, the Gujarat government, declared 14 districts and 152 talukas of the state as "scarcity hit", reports said.

A drought is declared when monsoon rains are below 90% of long-term averages in the entire season. India last experienced a drought in 2009.