M&M Q3 net profit up 1 pct, beats estimates

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd , India's biggest utility vehicle maker by sales, posted a marginal rise in quarterly profit, beating analysts' estimates, helped by a one-time gain.

Standalone profit rose about 1 percent to 9.42 billion rupees ($152 million) in the third quarter ended December from a year earlier.

Net sales fell 9 percent to 94.7 billion rupees, hurt by a slowdown in India's rural economy, which dragged down sales of Mahindra's tractors and utility vehicles.

Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 6.84 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. ($1 = 62.1700 rupees)

(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Anand Basu)