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* Southwest monsoon is likely to advance to parts of Karnataka, some more areas in Tamil Nadu and the remaining parts of Kerala and Lakshadweep in the next two to three days, the India Meteorological Department said today. The monsoon, which hit Kerala and northeast India on Thursday, covered entire Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam and most parts of sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim today, the weather bureau said. The northern limit of the monsoon currently passes through Amini in Lakshadweep, Kannur in Kerala, Coimbatore and Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu and Islampur in West Bengal, IMD said. The weather bureau has forecast very heavy rainfall over Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim over the next five days, the weather bureau said. The department has also predicted heavy showers over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura today and extremely heavy rainfall over Meghalaya today. Heavy rainfall is also likely over Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands till Sunday, the weather department said. Heavy rainfall is also likely over Tamil Nadu and south interior Karnataka during the weekend, and over coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rayalaseema on Sunday, it said. Heatwave conditions prevailing over northwest, central and east India are likely to reduce gradually during the next two to three days, the weahter bureau said, adding that severe heatwave conditions are very likely over many parts of Haryana, Delhi, west Rajasthan, east Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Vidarbha today. The maximum temperature recorded Thursday was at Sri Ganganagar in west Rajasthan at 48.3 degrees Celsius. Parts of Meghalaya received extremely heavy rainfall and parts of subHimalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and Assam got very heavy rainfall on Thursday, it said.

* Conditions are becoming favourable for the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala in the next 24 hours, the India Meteorological Department said on Wednesday. Conditions are also becoming favourable for the monsoon to advance into some more parts of northeastern states, Lakshadweep, the South Arabian Sea, southwest, central and northeast Bay of Bengal during the same period, it said. Due to a cyclonic circulation over northeast Assam and the neighbourhood, the weather bureau has forecast very heavy rainfall over Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim over the next five days, the weather bureau said. Heavy rainfall is very likely over Kerala and Mahe over the next five days, over Andaman and Nicobar Islands from Friday to Sunday and over Tamil Nadu and south interior Karnataka on Saturday and Sunday, due to the influence of strong westerly winds over the Kerala coast, the weather agency said. Due to the same weather pattern, very heavy rainfall is likely over Kerala, Mahe and Lakshadweep on Wednesday, the weather department said. In a relief, heatwave to severe heatwave conditions are likely to abate over northwest and central India from Thursday, the agency said. Severe heatwave conditions are very likely over many parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh today, it said. Similar conditions are very likely over a few pockets of Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha till Thursday. Hot and humid weather is very likely to prevail over a few parts of Konkan and Goa on Thursday and Friday, the department said. Warm night conditions are very likely to prevail over a few parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh till Thursday, it said. The highest maximum temperature of the season was recorded at Churu in West Rajasthan at 50.5 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. Extremely heavy rainfall was observed over a few parts of Meghalaya on Tuesday.

* The Securities and Exchange Board of India has eased the eligibility criteria for commodity derivatives exchanges to introduce options on futures contracts in agricultural and agri-processed commodities. In a circular on Monday, SEBI cut to 1 bln rupees from 2 bln rupees the minimum average daily turnover during the previous 12 months for futures contracts of the corresponding commodity, which is a pre-condition for an exchange to launch options contracts on commodities. The relaxation will apply to options on futures contracts, and not to options on goods contracts. Options on goods contracts on a commodity are benchmarked to the spot price of the underlying commodity, whereas options on futures contracts are linked to the futures prices of the commodity. The settlement is delivery-based for options on goods contracts, while options on futures contracts are cash-settled. There is no minimum futures turnover criteria for the launch of options on goods contracts except that it has the same quality specifications, delivery centres, final settlement price methodology, and other specifications, as the corresponding futures contracts. There will be no change in the criteria for launch of options on commodities that are not agricultural or agri-processed. For these commodities, which encompass energy, bullion, metal, and other commodities, the corresponding futures contracts need to have a minimum average turnover of 10 bln rupees during the previous 12 months. SEBI's circular will come into effect from Saturday. The relaxation is likely to help the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, which has been keen on launching options on futures in a few spices and other agricultural commodities. Till recently, NCDEX provided options trading in a few commodities but these options contracts were on underlying goods. At the end of January, NCDEX announced it was discontinuing options on goods contracts in guar seed, guar gum, maize, dhaniya (coriander), jeera, and turmeric. The exchange had said it would not introduce new expiries related to the options on goods contracts on the six agricultural commodities. These six options on goods contracts were illiquid. The commodities on which NCDEX is considering introducing options on futures contracts are among the six agricultural commodities in which the options on goods contracts were discontinued.

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