Bank of India Q3 profit falls 70 per cent as bad loans rise to 4.07 per cent

Bank of India, India's fourth-biggest lender by assets, reported on Thursday a surprise 70 per cent fall in quarterly profit as bad loans jumped.

The lender, majority owned by the government, said net profit fell to Rs 173 crore ($27.7 million) for the fiscal third quarter to December 31, from Rs 586 crore a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected a net profit of Rs 806 crore, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans widened to 4.07 per cent, from 3.54 per cent in the September quarter and 2.81 per cent a year earlier.

Most state-owned lenders that have seen bad loans rising in the December quarter and some bankers have said the pain would continue for the next few quarters.

Top lender State Bank of India (SBI) will report its third-quarter results on Friday.

(Reuters)