The Met Dept has said that the southwest monsoon is expected to gain momentum and advance further into several parts of drought-hit Maharashtra and central India.<br/><br/>It said that conditions are favourable for the monsoon to advance into entire Konkan and Goa, drought-hit central Maharashtra, Marathwada, remaining parts of north interior Karnataka, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and parts of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.<br/><br/>The weatherman has forecast an above normal monsoon this year.<br/><br/>However, its onset over Kerala, which marks the commencement of the rainy season in the country, was on June 8th, seven days later than predicted.<br/><br/>Also, it made a slow progress due to lack of a favourable system that could have given it a boost to move forward.<br/><br/>The slow pace had increased the rain deficiency to 25 per cent. It is expected to make its way to Delhi in the first week of July.