India's area under kharif crops hits all-time high of over 108 mn hectares

Government confident of bumper harvest; could cool down inflation but experts say excess rains, pest attach could play spoilsport in some crops

Sowing of kharif crops touched an all-time high area of 108.22 million hectares during the week ended August 28, raising hopes of a bumper harvest in excess of 149 million tonnes during the season.

The last all-time high kharif acreage was in the kharif season of 2016, at 107.57 million hectares .  

A good kharif output could help tame overall retail inflation within the Reserve bank of India’s threshold band of 2-6 per cent in the months to come. Retail inflation since April has been hovering at 7 per cent largely due to high food prices.

A question mark also