Bank of Baroda Q4 net halves on provisions for bad loans

Bank of Baroda, India's second-biggest state-owned bank, reported a near-halving of its quarterly net profit on Monday, lagging estimates, as provisions for bad loans in the period rose 58 per cent.

The bank's bad loans in the quarter, however, showed some improvement with gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans at 3.72 per cent, compared with 3.85 per cent in the previous quarter, sending its shares up more than 10 per cent.

The Mumbai-based bank said standalone net profit fell to Rs 598 crore ($93.76 million) for its fiscal fourth quarter to March 31, from Rs 1157 crore reported a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had expected a net profit of Rs 958 crore, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Provisions for bad loans in the quarter rose to Rs 1818 crore from Rs 1153 crore in the year ago period, the bank said in a statement to the exchanges.

(Reuters)