June-Sept rains likely to be 15 pct below average

INDIA-MONSOON-DROUGHT-EL-NINO:June-Sept rains likely to be 15 pct below average

India's monsoon rains in June to September are likely to be 85 percent of the long-period average, the weather office chief said.

"We expect 15 percent shortfall in the seasonal rains," L.S. Rathore, director general of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) told reporters on Friday.

The IMD considers a 50-year average rainfall of 89 centimetres as the long-period average rainfall. Monsoon rains are considered deficient - a drought in layman's terms - if they fall below 90 percent of the 50-year average.

India's monsoon rains will not be enough to save the country from its first drought in three years, the weather office said on Thursday as it forecast that the El Nino weather pattern should reduce rains again in the second half of the June to September season.