MUMBAI (Reuters) - Punjab National Bank, India's fifth-biggest lender by assets, said quarterly net profit fell 62 percent as provisions for bad loans were sharply higher.
The New Delhi-based bank said standalone net profit plunged to 3.07 billion rupees ($48 million) for its fiscal fourth quarter to end-March, from 8.06 billion rupees a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected a net profit of 8.36 billion rupees, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.
Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans rose to 6.55 percent from 5.97 percent in the previous quarter and 5.25 percent a year earlier. Provisions, including for bad loans, surged 79 percent to 38.34 billion rupees from a year earlier.
Shares in Punjab National Bank fell more than 6 percent after the results.
($1 = 63.9900 rupees)
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(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)