PNB tumbles over 7 percent as bad loans jump in Q3

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Punjab National Bank, the fifth-biggest Indian lender by assets, reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit as bad loans jumped, sending its shares down more than 7 percent.

The lender, majority owned by the Indian government, said net profit rose 2.6 percent from a year earlier to 7.75 billion rupees ($125.4 million) for the third quarter ended December. Analysts on average had expected a net profit of 9.83 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Net bad loans as a percentage of net advances rose to 3.82 percent, from 3.26 percent in the September quarter, and 2.80 percent in the year-ago quarter.

Shares in Punjab National Bank were down 6.1 percent at 180.10 rupees by 12.27 p.m. The stock fell as much as 7.1 percent.

Some other state-run lenders including Bank of Baroda and Union Bank have also seen their bad loans rising in the December quarter. Bankers say bad loans would remain a problem in the short term. ($1 = 61.7850 rupees)

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Anand Basu)