(Reuters) - ICICI Bank Ltd, India's third-largest lender by assets, said its fourth-quarter net profit almost halved, missing expectations, as provisions for bad loans surged.
Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans stood at 8.84 percent at the end of March compared with 7.82 percent at the end of the previous quarter and 7.89 percent a year earlier.
Net profit for the three months to March 31 fell to 10.20 billion rupees on Monday.
That compared with the average 10.77 billion rupees forecast of 12 analysts, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Net interest income for the quarter was up 1 percent on the year to 60.22 billion rupees, while net interest margin was at 3.24 percent.
Shares of the Mumbai-based lender, which started trading in 1998, ended 2.5 percent higher ahead of the results, outperforming a slightly higher main market.
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($1 = 67.1300 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru)
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