Just how much does the monsoon affect economic growth?
A bad monsoon has always created fears about a slip in GDP growth rate. Now that the India Meteorological Department has said this monsoon will be below normal at 93 percent, the wailing has begun again. The monsoon pundits cite history: Each of three consecutive years of good monsoons saw a 9 percent growth in the economy. But in 2002, when rains were only 81 percent of their long-term average, the growth rate fell to 3.8 percent.
The Benign Employer(This story appears in the 31 July, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)