India’s brutal monsoon plays havoc with harvests, raising fears of slow spending

For Ajay Kumar Chutani, whose family has run a sari shop in the north market town of Karnal since the 1970s, the months after the monsoon are always his busiest. During these cool weeks, he sells enough lengths of silk and embroidered cotton to tide him over the leaner seasons, as farming families prepare for weddings and the frenetic festival season.

This year, after erratic rains through the wet season and the country’s weakest rainfall since 2015, Chutani is keeping a close eye on the till. “The next three months decide our annual profit,” he said, adding he was hopeful for a sales increase.

Across India’s northern grain belt, including in the breadbasket state of Haryana, farmers are bringing their harvest to market – a time of frenzied activity when seasonal windfalls dictate spending on special items from tractors to wedding gold.

But this year, rice yields are down and costs are rising. Farmers say more chemicals and fertilisers are required to limit production losses.…Read more by Bloomberg