Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addresses the media.
Union finance minister Arun Jaitley today said even if the monsoon turns out to be a little deficient as per prediction, it will not affect food production.
Earlier this week, the Indian Meteorological Department predicted "deficient" monsoon and revised its forecast from 93% to 88% for this year, triggering fears of bad harvest and food price inflation.
Crop production has already taken a massive hit with the unseasonal rains in March and April, which has affected farmers over nine states.
Mr Jaitley said he had a detailed analysis of the situation from the weather department. On basis of it, he said what was relevant was the "geographical distribution" of monsoon.
This time, the monsoon will be normal in the south, centre and northeast. The inadequacy, if any, will be in the north western part of India, but that area, he said, is "well irrigated".
So foodgrain production will not to be hit by poor monsoon, and the government has adequate stocks, he said.
"Last year's monsoon was delayed and defining, but the government managed to control inflation," the minister said.I don't anticipate any distress situation even with the kind of predictions that have been made."
The monsoon is expected to hit Kerala tomorrow.