South-west monsoon, the key to the agriculture driven trillion-dollar Indian economy, on Tuesday brought showers to Kerala bringing much-needed relief to farmers. "Monsoon has reached Kerala," a top India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.

Kerala usually receives monsoon showers by June 1, but scientists said there was no need to paint a gloomy picture as the progress of the seasonal rainfall phenomenon was well with the forecast limits which have a model error of four days. Monsoon watchers attribute the slight delay in the onset of monsoon to Typhoon Mawar which was active in western Pacific Ocean off the Philippines and sucking away moisture and wind currents to power itself. The IMD declares the onset of monsoon over Kerala when 50 per cent of the 14 observation stations in the state and Lakshadweep islands report rainfall for 48 hours.