The sowing of Rabi crops touched a record high, despite demonetisation. The area sowed touched ~65mn hectares ( 6% YoY), led by wheat ( 7%), pulses ( 11%) and oilseeds ( 6%). However, the failure of the North-East monsoons in the country in the last two years has resulted in a drought-like situation in parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, AP and Telangana.