NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Monsoon rains were 9 percent below average in the week ended July 30, the weather office said on Thursday, reflecting a patchy phase after the previous week's surplus downpours.
The rains were 24 percent above average in the previous week as the monsoon revived over soybean and cotton-growing areas of central and western India.
A poor run since the start of the four-month-long rainy season in June made the first month the driest in five years, raising fear of a drought in a year forecast to bring below-average rainfall.
(Reporting by Ratnajyoti Dutta; editing by Malini Menon)