The southwest monsoon normally covers the entire country by July 8. 2025 has seen the quickest nationwide coverage of the monsoon since 2020.
In 2020, the monsoon had covered the entire country by June 26. That year, cumulative monsoon rainfall from June to September was 10.5 per cent above normal, IMD data showed.
This year, too, the IMD — in its second-stage forecast released in May — revised its monsoon projection for 2025 to 106 per cent of the long-period average (LPA), up from 105 per cent predicted in April.
It also said that June rainfall would be “above normal” at over 108 per cent of the LPA.
The forecast for seasonal rainfall from June to September comes with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 per cent. The LPA for all-India seasonal rainfall during 1971–2020 is 87 centimetres.
The Met Department had also said that the monsoon in almost all homogenous regions of the country—except the Northeast and parts of Bihar—would be normal to above normal this year.
From June 1 to June 28, monsoon rainfall was 9 per cent above normal.
An early onset of the southwest monsoon is expected to spur kharif crop sowing and aid in a healthy initial plant growth. Data showed that as of June 20, kharif crops had been sown in around 10 per cent more area than in 2024, covering roughly 13.74 million hectares (mha).
Among all crops, paddy — the main foodgrain grown during the kharif season — had been planted in around 1.32 mha by June 20, which is almost 60 per cent more than the area covered during the same period last year. Only oilseed sowing was lagging at that point but was expected to pick up as the monsoon strengthened over Central India.
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