India oilseed, cotton-growing western states to get heavy rains

India western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, which are major cotton, oilseeds and sugar cane growing regions, will likely get heavy rainfall due to a deep depression over the Arabian Sea, according to the India Meteorological Department.

The deep depression will likely intensify into a cyclonic storm, the department said on its Web site Tuesday (Nov 10).

"The cyclone, called Phyan, is likely to hit south Gujarat and north Maharashtra at the coast by late evening today or tonight," a department official said Wednesday, but declined to be named.

India rainfall was 23-percent below normal, the worst in 37 years, in the June-September monsoon season this year, hurting summer-sown crop output.