BPCL quarterly profit dives 77 percent but tops estimates

(Reuters) - India's Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd reported on Friday a 77 percent plunge in third-quarter net profit, dragged down by higher expenses including raw material costs.

Profit came in at 4.95 billion rupees ($69.42 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with 21.44 billion rupees a year earlier, the state-run company said.

However, it beat analysts' estimate of a profit of 457.8 million rupees, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

India's state-owned oil companies were forced to take a price cut in October as the government wanted to cushion the impact of high crude oil price on the public.

Average gross refining margin (GRM) in the third quarter was $2.78 per barrel, compared with $7.89 per barrel a year earlier, while revenue from operations surged 25.7 percent to 882.38 billion rupees.

($1 = 71.3030 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Krishna V Kurup and Arnab Paul in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)