The monsoon has covered half of India's landmass four days behind the usual schedule, failing to recover from a late start that has slowed sowing of summer crops in a country where half of the farmland still lacks irrigation.
India's farming sector accounts for about 14 percent of its nearly $2 trillion economy. Inadequate rains can not only hurt farm output but also stoke inflation, a cause of major concern for the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The annual rains arrived over the southern Kerala coast five days behind the normal June 1 start and then entered a lull, with poor rains over the interior parts of southern India.
Rainfall was 45 percent below average for the week ended June 18, compared with 48 percent below average the previous week, weather office data showed on Thursday.


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