Monsoon rain reaches Kerala 3 days late but on time to save Indian harvests

Key points

• Monsoon rains have arrived in India’s southeastern state of Kerala three days late, the Meteorological Department says.
• The rains typically arrive on June 1 and are critical to India’s economic health, enabling farmers to plant cotton, soya beans, sugarcane, rice and corn.
• India’s economy, which is Asia’s third largest, is valued at $4 trillion and is heavily dependent on the monsoon season, which delivers about 70 percent of the rainfall needed for a good harvest.
• Beyond agriculture, the rains also help replenish aquifers and reservoirs across the country.
• India’s Meteorological Department said in a statement on Thursday that the “conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon” into more areas like the central Arabian Sea, Goa, some parts of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu over the next two to three days.