Floodwaters submerge a street as vehicles and pedestrians navigate after heavy rains in Mumbai, India.

Photograph: Reuters

Jun 4th 2026|Mumbai|3 min read

BY THE MIDDLE of June Mumbai, India’s financial capital, should be drenched. The south-west monsoon, the seasonal storm which provides most of the year’s water in South Asia, will bring torrential downpours to the city. Street food-hawkers and builders will curse. Slum-dwelling migrant workers may head home to villages to wait for the rains to pass. Some businesspeople and financiers, meanwhile, will be patting damp pockets full of rupees. On May 29th India’s National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) allowed traders to start placing financial bets on whether each month of this year’s monsoon will be wetter or drier in Mumbai than the average of the past 30 years.

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