(Reuters) - Indian state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB), which has been hit badly by a $2 billion fraud early last year, posted a surprise quarterly profit on Tuesday, helped by a sharp drop in provisions.
PNB posted a profit of 2.47 billion rupees ($34.44 million) for the three months to Dec. 31, compared to a profit of 2.3 billion rupees a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected a loss of 10.63 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
Asset quality improved quarter-on-quarter, with gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans easing to 16.33 percent at the end of December from 17.16 percent at the end of September. This was still higher than 12.11 percent a year earlier.
($1 = 71.7210 rupees)
(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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