Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh said there was no scientific evidence of a drought this year and that the August-September monsoon rains were seen at 95 per cent of the long-period average.

We expect most agricultural commodities to remain under downside pressure in the coming fortnight due to a revival of monsoon coupled with a pickup of sowing activities, says Naveen Mathur

Factory output in June likely rose 5.4 per cent from a year earlier, faster than the 4.7 per cent growth in May, according to a poll of 27 economists.

\"Monsoon is in an active phase and no dry run is expected in the next week,\" said BP Yadav, head of the National Weather Forecasting Centre at the India Meteorological Department.

Listing out measures to deal with a possible drought, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said subsidies would be increased on seeds apart from extending assistance for horticulture and fodder production.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan will also likely reiterate his warning about the potential destabilising impact of outflows from emerging markets should the US Federal Reserve increase interest rates earlier than expected.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan will review monetary policy on Tuesday for the second time after the new government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi took charge.

\"As many as 73 per cent of the corporate leaders said the RBI would not be ambitious enough to go in for a big cut in the benchmark interest rates,\" an Assocham survey said.

Median forecasts show the rate staying unchanged until the end of this year, before being cut to 7.75 per cent in the first quarter of 2015. Between now and mid-2016, the RBI is expected to cut rates by 75 basis points.

Expressing concern over high import of cooking oil and pulses, the prime minister said scientists should help increase its productivity for reducing the country's import dependence.

\"The monsoon deficit has come down. As per the Met Department, monsoon rains are good so far and is likely to be good in the coming days,\" Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh  told reporters.

In the coming fortnight, precious metals will trade lower and crude prices will likely trade sideways, says Naveen Mathur, Associate Director-Commodities and Currencies at Angel Broking.

A reason to worry is the uneven rainfall distribution. While the sowing window is open till early-August and sowing coverage is likely to improve as the monsoon progresses, distribution will be key to determining crop output.

According to agriculture ministry data released on Friday, sowing has been completed on 53.31 million hectares as of July 25, compared with 74.77 million hectares a year ago.

Rains in the northwest India grain bowl as well as in soybean belts of western-central parts are expected speed up summer planting activities.

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Last year, the monsoon was 106 per cent of the LPA. In the June to July 22 period of the monsoon season, the deficit has been 27 per cent.

Although the national weather office has said that monsoon has covered all of the country, rainfall in the first six weeks of the wet season has been more than a third below normal.

Area under most crops, however, continues to lag over last year's corresponding number. Kharif crops have been sown in a total of 34.65 million hectares as of July 19, 44 per cent lower than the corresponding area last year.

The deficit is as high as 70 per cent in central and northwestern regions in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Even with good showers in the remaining period of the monsoon, the deficit in these regions are certain to remain in excess of 10 per cent.