NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (AFP): India has begun importing rice to counter an expected large shortfall in production following the driest monsoon season in nearly four decades, the Press Trust of India said yesterday.

The move to import rice comes amid government fears that output will fall short by up to 16 million tonnes in the world's second-largest rice producer and follows years of bumper output.

"About 400,000 tonnes of rice has already been imported by traders and the figure is going to go up," the news agency quoted a leading exporter, who did not wish to be identified, as saying.

Rice prices in the domestic market have soared by about 25 percent in the last four months on supply worries.

India, which has nearly 1.2 billion people, suffered the driest monsoon since 1972 that affected rice-producing areas of the country.

The rice crop was later hit by widespread flooding.

The news agency said purchases from overseas markets by private traders would increase in coming days as the government had abolished customs duty of 70 percent.

India produced 99.2 million tonnes of rice last year.

Agriculture Ministry Secretary T. Nanda Kumar said earlier in the week that the government would not import rice but that it had created an opportunity for private traders to do so.