The northeast (NE) monsoon season (October, November and December) is the major period of rainfall activity over south peninsular India. This study is mainly focused on the prediction of northeast monsoon rainfall using lead-1 products (forecasts for the season issued in beginning of September) of seven general circulation models (GCMs). An examination of the performances of these GCMs during hindcast runs (1982–2008) indicates that these models are not able to simulate the observed interannual variability of rainfall.