Punjab National Bank first-quarter profit rises, but misses estimates

REUTERS - Punjab National Bank , India's fourth-biggest lender by assets, reported a 12 percent rise in quarterly profit, as provisions for bad loans fell, although the profit increase was smaller than expected.

Net profit rose to 3.43 billion rupees ($53.51 million) for its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, from 3.06 billion rupees a year earlier, the New Delhi-based bank said on Wednesday. http://bit.ly/2u2QV19

Analysts on average had expected a net profit of 4.04 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Provisions for non-performing assets fell nearly 19 percent from last year to 25.60 billion rupees.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans rose to 13.66 percent at end-June from 12.53 percent at March end, but fell marginally from 13.75 percent at end-June 2016.

($1 = 64.0950 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)