Federal Bank first-quarter profit rises 26 percent, lags estimates

Federal Bank Ltd posted a 26 percent rise in first-quarter net profit, but lagged estimates as provisions for bad loans rose.

Net profit rose to 2.10 billion rupees ($32.61 million) for the quarter ended June 30, from 1.67 billion rupees a year earlier, the mid-sized private sector lender said on Wednesday. https://bsmedia.business-standard.combit.ly/2uWwGCa

Analysts on average had expected a net profit of 2.51 billion rupees, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans rose to 2.42 percent at end-June, compared with 2.33 percent at March-end.

Shares in Federal Bank were trading 3.2 percent lower after the results in the BSE Sensex that gained 0.36 percent.($1 = 64.4025 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Samantha Kareen Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)