India Rain Deficit to Fall Below 20% by July-End

India's monsoon rain shortfall may fall below 20 percent by end of this month from as high as 45 percent in June, a weather bureau official said.

The deficit has narrowed to 29 percent as of yesterday, D. Sivananda Pai, a director at India Meteorological Department in Pune, said in a phone interview.

The June-September monsoon, the main source of irrigation for the nation's 235 million farmers, won't be impacted by El Nino weather pattern, he said