Hindustan Petroleum Corp second-quarter profit dives, misses estimate

(Reuters) - State-owned refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd posted a 37.1 percent fall in second-quarter profit on Thursday, dented by rising costs amid higher raw material and forex expenses.

Net profit came in at 10.92 billion rupees ($148.62 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with 17.35 billion rupees a year earlier, HPCL said.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 15.11 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv data.

Income from operations surged nearly 35 percent to 730.65 billion rupees.

Average gross refining margin for the six months ended Sept. 30 - the difference between the cost of crude oil processed and the price of refined products - dropped to $5.93 per barrel from $6.75 per barrel a year earlier.

($1 = 73.4750 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)