New Delhi: The annual monsoon rains, crucial to the health of the economy, have hit the southwestern Kerala coast six days in advance, weather official told on Friday.
"The monsoon has hit Kerala on Friday," said a weather official adding that the rains had covered the southern part of Kerala and would move to other regions.
The June-September southwest monsoon is the main source of water for farming, which generates about a fifth of gross domestic product.
With nearly two-thirds of India's billion-plus population dependent on farm-related income, the timely arrival and even distribution of the rains play a major role in determining eventual demand in India's $700-billion economy.
Earlier this month, the Metereological Department had forecast the monsoon would hit the Kerala coast two days ahead of its normal onset date of June first.
"Monsoon conditions had set over Kerala in the last two or three days and we were looking at the various standard criteria and parameters," the official said.
"Conditions are favourable for the monsoon to move towards the northeast, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and southern parts of Karnataka in the next two to three days," the official said.
The monsoon usually arrives over the commercial capital of Mumbai by June 10, and brings respite from the summer heat in the capital New Delhi by June 29.
Most years it covers the entire country by July 15. Weather officials in April forecast this year's rains at 93 percent of the long-term average, with a 22 percent probability of being deficient.
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