India receives highest monsoon rains in 25 years - weather office

India received 10% above average monsoon rains in 2019, the highest in 25 years as seasonal rainfall continues longer than expected, the weather department said on Monday. Extra June-September monsoon rainfall will help farmers expand areas under winter-sown crops such as wheat, rice rapeseed, and chickpeas, improving their earnings down the line and helping revive tepid rural demand that has stung Indian economic growth.

The longer monsoon could also restock reservoirs and help replenish groundwater, helping assuage water shortages in pockets of the country of 1.3 billion people. But heavy rainfall in some pockets has damaged summer-sown crops like cotton, soybean, and pulses that are close to harvest.

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