New Delhi, Sep 11 - The monsoon deficit has dropped to 20 percent across India after most parts of the country received heavy rainfall in the past one week, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said Friday.

During the week ending Sep 9, the country as a whole and all the four broad homogeneous regions have received above-normal rainfall. Northwest India received 39 mm of rainfall, nearly 18 percent more than the average during this time, the department officials said.

While central India got more than 20 percent of its normal, the southern peninsula got 29 percent more rains during the week. Northeast India received over 84 mm of rain, which is 22 percent more than the normal level during Sep 3-9.

Overall, India received an excess of 56 mm of rain, at least 21 percent more than the normal level.

This continuous rainfall, the IMD said, was due to a cyclonic circulation that originated in the Bay of Bengal and later got concentrated on central Madhya Pradesh.