Bank of Baroda third-quarter profit surges four-fold, but misses estimate

(Reuters) - Bank of Baroda Ltd said on Tuesday its third-quarter net profit more than quadrupled, but missed estimate as the Indian lender set aside higher provisions for bad loans.

Net profit jumped to 4.71 billion rupees ($66.21 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, 2018, from 1.12 billion rupees a year earlier, but came in way below analysts' average estimate for a profit of 7.11 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv data.

Provisions for bad loans rose 8.3 percent to 34.16 billion rupees, India's third-biggest state-backed lender by assets said in a filing to the exchanges. https://reut.rs/2DHrRAi

However, asset quality improved, with gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans easing to 11.01 percent at the end of December from 11.78 percent in the previous quarter, and 11.31 percent in the year-ago period.

The lender is set to merge with two smaller state-run lenders - Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank - early this year in a government push to tackle bad loans.

($1 = 71.1330 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)