New Delhi, Jun 29 (PTI): The Southwest Monsoon is likely to hit the national capital in next 2-3 days as it picks up pace and advances further to parts of northwest India, IMD said today.

A deep depression in the Arabian Sea off Gujarat coast had affected the pace of the southwest monsoon and taken away a lot of moisture.

"But the depression will not have a long term impact on monsoon. Even Gujarat has started receiving good rains now. Over the next 2-3 days, monsoon will again spread to parts of northwest India. This include Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and a large part of Rajasthan. The progress of monsoon will be speedy now," Director General of India Meteorological Department (IMD) Laxman Singh Rathore said.

So, monsoon is expected to arrive in the national capital in next 2-3 days now. The normal date for monsoon to hit Delhi is June 29.

The Northern Limit of Monsoon (NLM) now passes through Dwarka, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Sawai Madhopur, Gwalior, Lucknow, Pantnagar, Dehradun, Una and Jammu, the IMD said.

Meanwhile, overall rainfall deficiency in the country has reduced to 13 per cent. Deficiency in east and northwest India hovers around 26 per cent while in central India it is around 23 per cent.

However, the positive side is formation of a low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal. This is expected to bring in more rains along the eastern coast.

The IMD has also forecast of heavy to very heavy rainfall in several parts of the country.

"Heavy rain very likely at isolated places over MP, Odisha, CAP, Telangana, North and south interior Karnataka and Andaman & Nicobar Islands during next 24 hrs.

Heavy to very heavy rain very likely at isolated places over Vidarbha, Chattisgarh, Konkan & Goa, Coastal Karnataka and Kerala during next 24 hrs (sic)," the IMD tweeted.