India's annual monsoon rains, vital to the trillion-dollar economy's farm output and economic growth, were 11.1 percent below normal for June 1-23, sources at the weather office said on Thursday. "We are still hopeful of an improvement in rainfall by June end," a senior official at the India Meteorological Department, who could not be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media, said. On Wednesday, the Met...

The monsoon is expected to further advance across Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand over the next three to four days marking intensified rainfall activity, meteorologists said today. Rainfall from June 17-23 was subdued, 21 per cent below the expected normal levels. But weather features suggest that a spell of wet weather lies in the week ahead. “Overall, things appear to be getting better for the season,” said Damodar Pai, a senior...

His right thumb severed, Santosh Mondal didn’t know how he would harvest his crop. So he killed himself last night. The tragedy mirrors the desperation of not only a poor Murshidabad farmer but also of a state where politics revolves around farming even if it does not make economic sense. The suicide over a digit that most take for granted becomes all the more stark against the backdrop that Santosh could have...

India should be able to lift the ban on non-basmati rice imports this year as a bumper crop is expected due to a positive outlook on monsoon rain, traders said on Tuesday. India, the world’s second largest exporter of rice after Thailand banned exports of non-basmati rice in 2008, as high prices of the grain put pressure on domestic supply. “India should come online this year as the harvest is expected to...

India's food inflation accelerated in mid-June, maintaining pressure on the Reserve Bank of India to tighten monetary policy at a faster pace. India's food price index rose 16.90 per cent in the year to June 12, higher than the previous week's annual reading of 16.12 per cent, government data released on Thursday showed. The fuel price index remained unchanged at 13.18 percent in the year to June 12. The yield...