State-run Bank of Baroda third-quarter profit dives 56 percent

(Reuters) - Bank of Baroda Ltd said on Friday its third-quarter net profit plunged nearly 56 percent, as provisions for bad loans nearly doubled.

Net profit came in at 1.12 billion rupees ($17.4 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with 2.53 billion rupees a year ago, said the country's third-largest state-run lender by assets. https://bsmedia.business-standard.combit.ly/2EqWIlR

Analysts on average had expected the company to post a profit of 3.44 billion rupees, Thomson Reuters Eikon data showed.

Provisions for bad loans rose about 93 percent to 31.55 billion rupees.Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans stood at 11.31 percent at end-December, compared with 11.16 percent in the previous quarter and 11.40 percent a year ago.

($1 = 64.3925 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Krishna V Kurup in Bengaluru; Editing by Vyas Mohan)