Biparjoy played killjoy, delayed SW monsoon by a week; El Nino threat looms

NEW DELHI: Cyclone Biparjoy has played killjoy with the much awaited south-west monsoon in India, as the extremely severe storm pushed the arrival of the rainy season by at least a week.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), cyclone Biparjoy, which had made a landfall in coastal regions of Gujarat on June 15, slowed the onset of the south-west monsoon in the country.

The monsoon season normally sets in by June 1 every year, hitting Kerala. This time however due to cyclone Biparjoy, its arrival in southern India was delayed by more than 10 days.

In fact it managed to reach Maharashtra and parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by only the third week of June. Rajasthan has also been witnessing heavy rains for the past seven days.

IMD scientists are expecting that by next week, it will pick up momentum and cover parts of eastern, central and northern India.

In the month of June, there has been an estimated shortfall of 37 per cent of monsoon rainfall, experts have said.

Owing to this, sowing of rice has seen a shortfall of 15 per cent till June 20, while that of pulses fell by a massive 57 per cent. Oilseeds sowing also plunged by 14 per cent, as per official estimates.

Economists say that shortfall in availability of food items would lead to higher retail inflation.

Even the Reserve Bank of India in its latest bulletin for June has said that rising retail inflation has slowed down personal consumption expenditure, which has resulted in scaling down of corporate sales and reduction in private investment towards capacity creation.

"Bringing down inflation and stabilising inflation expectations will revive consumer spending, boost corporate revenues and profitability, which is the best incentive for private capex," the bulletin's article on "State of the Economy" said.

Moving forward, experts feel that the El Nino may also leave an impact on the monsoon season in days to come.

El Nino is a weather phenomenon which causes disruptions in ocean currents, temperatures and weather conditions across the world, leading to changes in global atmospheric circulation and longer, colder winters in certain regions.

In India, it causes the monsoon season to experience below-normal rainfall, droughts and inadequate crop yield.

According to the IMD, there is a 70 per cent probability of El Nino impacting the monsoon season in India.

The weather phenomenon is detrimental to crops, resulting in damaging yields, leading to rise food prices.

If the weather department's prediction turns out to be accurate, then El Nino may impact the agriculture sector this season. (IANS)

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