Normal monsoon, adequate inputs augur well for India's kharif crop: Finance Ministry

New Delhi [India], July 6 : The forecast of a normal monsoon despite the prevalence of El Nino, adequate availability of seeds and fertilisers and sufficient water in key reservoirs augur well for healthy kharif sowing in India, said the Department of Economic Affairs under Ministry of Finance in its monthly review report.
India has three cropping seasons -- summer, kharif, and rabi.
Crops sown during June-July and harvested in October-November are kharif. Crops that are sown during October-November and the produce harvested from January-March depending on maturity is Rabi. Crops produced after rabi but ahead of kharif are summer crops.
Farmers have meanwhile started sowing their Kharif crops. Paddy, moong, bajra, maize, groundnut, soybean, and cotton are some of the major Kharif crops.
The finance ministry argued that an increase in foodgrain production accompanied by rising rural wages (agricultural and non-agricultural sectors) has spurred rural demand in India.
The year-on-year (YoY) growth in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) volume sales in rural areas turned positive in Q4 of 2022-23, signalling a pick-up in rural demand.
Buoyed by an increase in Minimum Support Price (MSP) that boosted farm income, easy availability of finance, and favourable monsoon, domestic tractor sales recorded an all-time high in 2022-23, the report noted.
Going ahead, an increase in MSP for rabi and kharif crops, a hike in fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane and a rise in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wage rate are expected to improve the financial security of rural households further and boost rural demand.
Nearly 2.6 crore metric tonnes of wheat has been procured until June 21, 2023, benefitting 21.3 lakh farmers.
"Comfortable wheat procurement provides a buffer to the agri-economy," the report said.
"As against the buffer norm of 2.1 crores Metric Tonnes for the April-June period of 2023, the combined stock position of wheat and rice in the central pool has reached 7.3 crores Metric Tonnes, placing India in a comfortable position to meet its domestic foodgrain requirements."
Meanwhile, the overall Indian economy as per the provisional GDP estimates for 2022-23 released in May was higher than the consensus estimate.
Further, according to the provisional estimates released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) recently, real GDP growth for 2022-23 stood at 7.2 per cent, higher than the 7 per cent as was projected earlier. An upward revision in the 2022-23 GDP numbers is expected going forward.
For 2023-24, the central government sees growth at about 6.5 per cent.
"India is the fastest-growing major economy, is now no longer only a statistical fact," the finance ministry's monthly review report stated, adding that what is clearly working for India's economy is the strength of its domestic demand.