The period from October 2013 to January 2014 is of relevance for the rabi (winter) wheat and rice crops in India, whose planting has been completed by December. The results of the environmental conditions monitoring by CropWatch indicate that the country enjoyed favorable rainfall over the whole monitoring period except in the southern region where rainfall was below the 2001-2013 average. On the contrary, the air temperature was generally lower than the average except in the northwestern tip of India. The PAR kept balance with that of the reference period.

Crop condition in India was below average from Octoberto end November; it then improved until January, when it came close to the recent five-year average. The favorable rains boosted planting of rabi cereal crops and the prospects for maize and rice are good. The NDVI was below the five-year average in the southern tips of Tamil Nadu throughout the monitoring period. Thisis confirmed by maximum VCI: most of India enjoys a maximum VCI in excess of 0.9,with the exception of Rajas than in the northeast, the southern tip of TamilNadu, and Puducherry where the maximum VCI is below 0.7. Low biomass accumulation in the southwestern part of India (including Maharashtra, Goa Karnataka,southern Andhra Pradesh, and Puducherry) coincides with the lower rainfall regions.