Union Bank Q1 net profit falls 22%, bad loans rise

Union Bank of India, the nation's sixth-biggest state-run lender by assets, reported a smaller-than-expected 22 per cent fall in quarterly profit even as bad loans rose.

Net profit fell to Rs 519 crore ($81 million) during its fiscal first quarter to June 30, from Rs 664 crore reported a year earlier, the Mumbai-based lender said.

Analysts on average had expected a net profit of Rs 499 crore, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans rose to 5.53 per cent in the June quarter from 4.96 per cent in the previous three months and 4.27 per cent in the same period a year earlier.

($1 = Rs 64.0600 )

(Reuters)