NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Concerns over forecasts that India's monsoon rains will be weak are "misplaced", Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday, adding that any impact on grain crops was likely to be limited and fears of food shortages were "far-fetched".
"The kind of speculation that we have been seeing and the speculative analysis that we have been reading about (monsoon) appears to be somewhat misplaced," Jaitley told reporters after meeting weather officials.
India's weather office on Tuesday cut this year's monsoon forecast to 88 percent of the long-term average, raising fears of a first drought in six years. In turn, stocks and bonds have sold off on fears of higher food inflation.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Douglas Busvine)
