Monsoon advances after stalling for 11 days, likely to hit Kerala on June 4

The weather department said that India's monsoon rains advanced into some more parts of southwest Bay of Bengal after stalling for the past 11 days at a far-flung island on Tuesday.

Rains usually lash mainland Kerala around June 1 and cover the whole country by mid-July. This year, the onset of the monsoon over Kerala is likely to be slightly delayed. It is likely to be on June 4, with a model error of plus/minus 4 days.

At the same time, India Meteorological Department (IMD) has informed that Kerala is expected to have rains in Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Ernakulam districts on Tuesday.

The monsoon, the lifeblood of the country's $3 trillion economy, delivers nearly 70% of the rain that India needs to water farms and recharge reservoirs and aquifers.Timely rains trigger planting of crops such as rice, soybeans and cotton.

Nearly half of India's farmland, without any irrigation cover, depends on the annual June-September rains to grow a number of crops.

Monsoon rains arrived over the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands on May 19, but then didn't make any progress until May 30, the IMD said.

Monsoon advanced into some parts of southwest Bay of Bengal on Tuesday and conditions are favourable for further advance into more parts of the region during the next 2-3 days, the IMD said.

(With Reuters inputs)