Axis Bank posts first ever loss in fourth quarter on higher provisions

(Reuters) - Axis Bank Ltd, India's third-biggest private sector lender by assets, reported a surprise fourth-quarter loss on Thursday, hit by a rise in provisions for bad loans.

Loan slippages for the quarter stood at 165.36 billion rupees, with 139.38 billion rupees from corporate lending, the bank said in a statement.

The net loss was 21.89 billion rupees ($327.94 million) for the three months ended March 31, compared with a profit of 12.25 billion rupees a year ago, the Mumbai-based bank said.

Analysts had on average expected a profit of 5.14 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans rose to 6.77 percent at end-March, compared with 5.28 percent in the preceding quarter and 5.04 percent a year ago.

Ahead of the results, Axis Bank shares closed 0.9 percent lower in a Mumbai market that ended 0.4 percent higher.

Axis Bank's smaller rival Yes Bank, which also reported on Thursday, however, posted a 29 percent jump in quarterly profit and its gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans stood at 1.28 percent at end-March.

($1 = 66.7500 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips/Shounak Dasgupta/David Evans)