Will it rain on India’s parade? El-Niño on top of mind of businesses that have an eye on the countryside

On Friday, the weather forecaster however predicted a normal monsoon with 96% of the long-period average sticking to its earlier forecast released last month..

The sectors of India Inc which depend on rural markets to a greater extent for instance automobile, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), white goods etc have been factoring in the meteorological departments forecast as they are producing and stocking goods as well as finetuning their rural strategy for the year..

Our forecast (in April) is that El Nio conditions may develop during the monsoon, maybe in the latter half, and we stand by that forecast, IMDs Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra tells ET, also explaining the nuances of this sea surface temperature condition which mostly occurs once in a few years and impacts the atmosphere..

The rural sentiments for vehicle purchase are hugely dependent on agricultural output which in turn depends on monsoon rains, says Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Director of Maruti Suzuki, adding that the companys rural sales numbers in April were flat...

Noted economist and former chief statistician of India Pronab Sen however argues that agriculture as a source of income has been shrinking, a trend that indicates that even in rural areas the impact of a bad monsoon year wont be as big as it used to be..

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