India monsoon 23 percent above normal in past week

The monsoon rains were 23 percent above normal in the past week, with rice-growing eastern states of West Bengal and Orissa receiving heavy rainfall, which would support planting of the main summer food crop.

The two eastern states share one-fifth of rice output of India, the world's second top producer of the grain.

In the previous week, the monsoon rainfall was 9 percent below average in cotton-growing areas of southern India and rice-growing areas of the eastern region.

Last year, the rainfall was 21 percent below normal in the week to June 23, but the four-month rainy season ended as a normal rainfall year after 2009 -- which was the driest season in over three decades and made the country a net importer of sugar.

(Reporting by Ratnajyoti Dutta; editing by Malini Menon)