HPCL third-quarter profit rises 23 percent

(Reuters) - State-owned oil refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd's profit rose 22.6 percent in the third quarter, beating estimates.

Profit rose to 19.50 billion rupees ($303.05 million), compared with 15.90 billion rupees a year earlier. http://bit.ly/2ErFwwy

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 15.50 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Income from operations rose over 13 percent to 628.32 billion rupees.

The country's biggest explorer, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), last month agreed to buy the government's majority stake in HPCL for 369 billion rupees.

($1 = 64.3450 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)