India rains likely to end by Sept 30 in northwest

India's annual monsoon will likely start withdrawing by September 30 from the northwest - the nation’s biggest grain-growing area that got 34-percent below-normal rains this season, hurting the output of rice, sugar cane and other crops.

Overall, the annual rains were 22-percent below the 50-year average from June 1-September 23, the India Meteorological Department said. This is the nation's poorest monsoon in the last 10 years, its Director B.P. Yadav said on the CNBC-TV 18 television channel Friday.

Both the onset and withdrawal dates are crucial as 60 percent of the country's farmlands are rain-fed. While the onset signals the start of sowing of the summer crop, a late withdrawal would leave more moisture in the soil, more water in reservoirs, helping winter varieties such as wheat and oilseeds.

The monsoon typically starts to recede from mid-September, but this year it has lingered after long dry spells between June and mid-August.

Rains are expected over central and south India September 28-30 due to low pressure building up over Bay of Bengal, Yadav said.

Rainfall is also likely over parts of the northwest during the week ending September 30, the department said on its Web site Thursday (Sept 24). Fairly widespread rains are likely along the west coast during the second half of the week, it said.