The official forecast on the arrival of the monsoon will be announced on May 15, Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. However, he said it is likely that the monsoon will hit the shores of South Kerala, which receives the rains before the rest of the country, "either by end of May or in the early days of June", reported livemint.

“During the current year, normal or above normal rainfall has been predicted by many forecasting agencies, including the India Meteorological Department,” he added. In April, the Indian Meteorological Department predicted above-normal to excess rainfall this monsoon. The Met department's qualitative forecast suggested India will get 106% of the Long Period Average, which is the average rain received during the monsoon between 1951 and 2000.