The heatwave, which has reached a high of 49 degrees C in the two states, is estimated to have killed nearly 7 million (70 lakh) birds there, reports The Economic Times.

The high bird mortality amounts to almost 10 per cent, compared to an average bird mortality of only 3 per cent in summer.

Telangana has over 10,000 poultry farms with about 70 million (7 crore) live birds, and Andhra Pradesh has some 65 million (6.5 crore) birds, when broiler and layer numbers are combined.

"Birds can withstand a high temperature of 42 degrees and we were helpless in bringing down the temperatures in the poultry farms," D Sudhakar, who owns a chain of poultry farms in Telangana, told The Economic Times.

"This comes as an additional setback to the poultry industry in Telangana after it suffered huge losses of nearly Rs 200 crore [2 billion] due to outbreak of birdflu last month."

"The production fell by about 20-25 per cent in eggs, even as mortality rate went up to a high of 10 per cent," said KVS Subba Raju, regional chairman of the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC).