Cipla Q3 net up 25.5 pct

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Cipla Ltd , India's fifth largest drugmaker by sales, reported a 25.5 percent rise in quarterly profit on robust sales but slightly missed street estimates as taxes surged.

The Mumbai-based drugmaker said, net profit grew to 3.39 billion rupees in October-December from 2.7 billion rupees a year earlier. Analysts on an average had expected a net profit of 3.48 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 18.65 percent to 20.3 billion rupees, it said.

Shares in Cipla fell 0.56 percent to 405 rupees on Wednesday when the Mumbai market closed down 0.1 percent. (Reporting by Kaustubh Kulkarni; Editing by Anand Basu)