-The Economic Times This year's frail monsoon has depleted Indian reservoirs to alarming levels last seen during the devastating drought of 2009, threatening even winter-sown crops and making the country vulnerable to drinking water scarcity by February as India's grossly inadequate storage capacity magnifies the impact of weak rainfall. The situation is precarious because the monsoon has delivered normal rainfall to only one-third of the country. The total deficit so far this...

-Reuters India's monsoon rains retreated to below average levels in the past week, the weather office said on Thursday, after scraping above average the previous week for the first time this season, keeping overall rainfall under par and pushing futures higher. Monsoon rains were 22 per cent below average in the week to July 18 against one per cent above average rains in the previous week, reflecting the return of a weak...

-The Hindustan Times Despite a pickup in rainfall last week, the southwest monsoon remains in deficit by a significant 22%, almost certainly lowering annual production of grains, pulses and oilseeds, the three crops where sowing has been worst hit. The Met office’s estimate coincided with the release of food inflation data that showed a worrying 10.81% rise in June from a year earlier, up from a 10.74% rise in May, an...

-The Times of India After a good spell of rain over large parts of northwest India, including Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Uttarakhand, a break in the monsoon system is likely over the next few days that can threaten to undo the gains recorded in July so far. Met officials say a break in rainfall is expected between Saturday and next Thursday. Only very light sporadic showers may occur over the region, with...

-MoneyLife.in Less than a week ago, the rainfall deficiency was nearly 50% of average. In a span of just six days, the deficiency was cut almost in half. Combine this feat with the fact that monsoon covered the entire country, four days earlier than normal and how does the glass now look? This is one season, so unpredictable that explains the heightened media interest in the monsoon progress. Much has been hyped...