Bandhan Bank third-quarter profit rises 10 percent, but asset quality worsens

(Reuters) - India's Bandhan Bank Ltd, which is set to buy mortgage provider Gruh Finance Ltd, posted a 10.4 percent rise in third-quarter profit on Thursday, boosted by a surge in interest income.

Net profit was 3.31 billion rupees ($46.89 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared to 3 billion rupees a year earlier, said the Kolkata-based bank which listed last year.

But its asset quality worsened, with gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans standing at 2.41 percent at the end of December, compared with 1.29 percent in the previous quarter and 1.67 percent a year earlier.

The lender made a provision of 3.85 billion rupees for its exposure to a borrower from the infrastructure development & finance sector, it said. Total provisions, after accounting for a writeback for treasury investments, more than tripled to 3.78 billion rupees.

($1 = 70.5910 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)