NEW DELHI, June 1 (Reuters) - India is likely to receive 101% rainfall of a long-term average this year, the weather office said, upgrading its previous forecast and raising expectations for higher farm output in the country, which is reeling from a second COVID-19 wave.
The monsoon is expected to be well distributed, and most parts of the country are expected to receive an average to an above-average amount of monsoon rains in 2021, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of the state-run India Meteorological Department (IMD), told a news conference.
The IMD defines average, or normal, rainfall as between 96%and 104% of a 50-year average of 88 centimetres for the entire four-month season beginning in June. (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav and Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Andrew Heavens)