Bank of India second-quarter profit rises, beats estimates

REUTERS - Bank of India , the country's sixth biggest lender by assets, reported a 41 percent jump in second-quarter profit, handily beating analyst estimates, with its bad loan ratio easing.

Net profit rose to 1.79 billion rupees ($27.53 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, from 1.27 billion rupees a year earlier, the Mumbai-based bank said on Friday. http://bit.ly/2yqM6wL

Analysts on average had expected a net profit of 666 million rupees, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon data.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans was 12.62 percent at end-September compared with 13.05 percent a quarter earlier, and 13.45 percent a year earlier.

Provisions for non-performing assets fell about 15 percent to 18.67 billion rupees.

($1 = 65.0275 Indian rupees)

(Reporting By Samantha Kareen Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)