Monsoon rains likely to emerge unscathed from El Nino: IMD official

Monsoon rains arrive on the southern tip of Kerala state by around June 1

The country is likely to emerge unscathed from the El Nino weather phenomenon, as it is expected to set in only during the latter part of the four-month monsoon season, a top weather official said, indicating a timely arrival of the crop-nourishing rains.

Monsoon rains, the lifeblood for the country's farm-dependent $2 trillion economy, arrive on the southern tip of Kerala state by around June 1 and retreats from the western state of Rajasthan by September.

"We are not worried about El Nino at the moment because this weather pattern is likely to emerge only after July," KJ Ramesh, director general of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) told Reuters in an interview.