May 30, 2024 2:00 PM

Monsoon rains arrive early in Kerala

Monsoon rains hit India's southernmost Kerala coast a few days earlier than expected on Thursday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, boosting prospects for bumper harvests that could spur farm and economic growth in Asia's third-largest economy. Summer rains usually begin to lash coastal Kerala state around June 1 and spread across the whole country by mid-July, triggering the planting of crops such as rice, corn, cotton, soybeans and sugarcane. The monsoon, the lifeblood of the c...