NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's merchandise exports rose to $35.2 billion in June from $34.32 billion a year ago, helped by increased shipments of engineering goods and commercial vehicles, data from the Commerce Ministry showed on Monday.

Merchandise imports in Asia's third-largest economy rose to $56.18 billion in the same month.

As a result, India's trade deficit narrowed to $20.98 billion in June from $23.78 billion in May.

Analysts had expected a deficit of $21.5 billion, according to a Reuters poll.

(Reporting by Shivangi Acharya and Manoj Kumar; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)