Shimla, Aug 30 - Himachal Pradesh has received 53 deficit rainfall this year and there is not much hope of overcoming this shortfall as the monsoon in the state generally starts receding from Sep 15, weather officials said Sunday.

'The overall monsoon situation in the hill state is still precarious. Almost the entire state has received less than the normal average rainfall,' meteorological office director Manmohan Singh told IANS.

'The deficiency in the cumulative rainfall from June 1 to Aug 30 is still 53 percent. This means, the state saw just 292 mm average rainfall against the normal average of 625 mm.

'As the southwestern monsoon in the northern areas of the country starts receding from Sep 15, it's now difficult to fill the gap (deficiency in rainfall).

'In August, the state generally receives 108 mm average rainfall. But this time only 44.5 mm rainfall was recorded this month,' the weather official said.

State Agriculture Director J.C. Rana said this was the lowest monsoon rainfall Himachal Pradesh has seen in the past few years.

'Of course, it's (low rainfall) alarming as more than 80 percent of the horticulture and agricultural activities are rain-fed,' he said.