MUMBAI: India's top sugar producing stateMaharashtra has churned out 1.22 million tonnes of sugar in the first two months of the 2015/16 marketing year that started on October 1, up nearly 17 per cent from a year ago, a state government official told Reuters. 

"Many mills in the state started operation earlier this year. This has been reflecting in production numbers," the official said, who declined to be named. 

A first back-to-back drought in nearly three decades has hit cane plantation in Maharashtra, raising concerns over the production. 

The world's second biggest sugar producer is expected to produce 26 to 27.5 million tonnes of the sweetener in the current year, down from 28.3 million tonnes produced a year ago.