New Delhi, April 16 -- India's goods and services exports hit a record $860 billion in 2025-26, backed by a 1% rise in merchandise exports despite global disruptions, even as higher imports widened the trade deficit. Releasing the full-year trade data, commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal said total exports stood at $860.09 billion, about $35 billion higher than $825.26 billion in 2024-25-a 4.22% increase. Merchandise exports grew 1% year-on-year to nearly $442 billion in FY26. "Because of the support of industry, we have been able to achieve $860.09 billion of total exports for 2025-26," Agrawal said. The overall exports figure includes provisional services data for March, as the Reserve Bank of India releases services data with a lag. Officials said the estimates are conservative and may be revised upwards once final data is available. Imports, however, rose faster. India's total (goods and services) imports increased 6.46% to $979.40 billion in FY26 from $919.92 billion in the previous year, pushing the trade deficit to $119.30 billion-up from $94.66 billion. The deficit is the second highest since 2015-16, after $121.62 billion in 2022-23. Agrawal attributed the widening deficit largely to higher prices of precious metals. Gold imports surged in value terms as prices rose from $76,617.48 per kg in FY25 to $99,825.38 per kg in FY26, even as volumes fell 4.76% to 721.03 tonnes. Silver imports increased both in price-from $934.72 to $1,642.93 per kg-and volume, rising from 5,164.37 tonnes to 7,334.96 tonnes. "Largely, the growth in the trade deficit is symptomatic of the high prices of precious metals, especially gold and silver," he said. Despite headwinds, including tariff uncertainties, geopolitical tensions and weak global petroleum prices for much of the year, merchandise exports posted modest growth. Key drivers included electronic goods, engineering goods, meat, dairy and poultry, marine products, and ores and minerals. "In spite of a tough year, I think, the performance has been good," he said Exports saw notable gains in several markets, including China (up over $5 billion), Spain (over $2 billion), Hong Kong (over $2 billion), Vietnam (over $1.24 billion) and Sri Lanka (around $1 billion). Services exports remained a strong pillar, estimated at $418.31 billion in FY26, up 7.94% from $387.55 billion in the previous year. March, however, reflected the impact of the West Asia conflict that began on February 28. Merchandise exports for the month fell 7.44% year-on-year to $38.92 billion, even though it was the highest monthly export figure of the year. Exports to the West Asia dropped sharply by $3.5 billion in March, a 57.95% decline, while imports from the region fell 51.6%, or about $8.7 billion, Agrawal said. Merchandise imports in March also declined 6.51% year-on-year to $59.59 billion. "The headwinds in the month of March definitely brought down the numbers to some extent, but because of the strength of our export industry, we've been able to achieve. record exports," he said. Looking ahead, Agrawal expressed optimism that exports will pick up in 2026-27, aided by a series of free trade agreements (FTAs). The India-UK FTA is expected to come into operation around May, while the India-Oman agreement could take effect from June 1. India is also expected to sign an FTA with New Zealand on April 27, with implementation targeted by October....