The week in charts: Rainfall woes, Fed rate cut, Tupperware crisis

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Every Friday, Plain Facts publishes a compilation of data-based insights, complete with easy-to-read charts, to help you delve deeper into the stories reported by Mint in the week gone by. Abundant rainfall this year has boosted kharif crop sowing, but excess rains in September may lead to crop damage and add risks to India's inflation trajectory.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve has announced a steep rate cut after four years. After last year's below-normal monsoon and reduced crop production, India saw abundant rainfall this year, supporting the sowing of kharif crops in August. However, the 8% above-normal rainfall so far in September now poses a threat to crops ahead of the harvest season, adding pressure to India's inflation outlook.

While states like Telangana and Rajasthan experienced significant excess rainfall, key wheat-growing regions such as Bihar and Punjab remain deficient, a Mint analysis of data from India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed. After a four-year hiatus, the US Federal Reserve cut its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points, marking the first reduction since the onset of the pandemic. The policy rate now ranges between 4.75% and 5%.

This move, following months of monetary easing by several countries, aims to prevent a slowdown in the US labour market as inflation begins to ease. The Fed has also signalled further cuts: another 50 basis points before year-end, with an additional 100 basis points anticipated in 2025. $700 million: That's the estimated amount of loans that the kitchenware firm Tupperware has failed to repay its lenders.