Axis Bank posts surprise fourth-quarter loss

(Reuters) - Axis Bank Ltd, India's third-biggest private sector lender by assets, reported a surprise fourth-quarter loss, plagued by a rise in provisions for bad loans.

Net loss was 21.89 billion rupees ($327.94 million) for the three months ended March 31, compared with a profit of 12.25 billion rupees a year ago, the Mumbai-based bank said.

Analysts had on average expected a profit of 5.14 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans rose to 6.77 percent at end-March, compared with 5.28 percent in the preceding quarter and 5.04 percent a year ago.

($1 = 66.7500 Indian rupees)

 

(Reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Shounak Dasgupta)