India’s rice output is likely to fall by 1.9 million tonnes (MT) to 94.48 MT in kharif season this year on account of poor rain as well as floods. Rice ouptut is estimated to fall at 94.48 MT in the kharif season of the 2017-18 crop year (July-June) from the record 96.39 MT in last kharif. The fall in kharif output is attributed to dry spell as well as floods in some parts of the country. The overall southwest monsoon, crucial for rain-fed kharif crops, was projected normal, but till first week of this month it was less by five per cent. Assam, Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan witnessed floods, while parts of Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu faced dry spell.