Canara Bank December-quarter profit soars 152 percent

(Reuters) - India's Canara Bank Ltd reported a 152.5 percent surge in quarterly net profit on Monday, buoyed by higher interest income and a write-back of provisions made for mark-to-market losses.

The lender's net profit came in at 3.18 billion rupees ($44.70 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2018, compared with 1.26 billion rupees a year ago.

That compares with analysts' average estimate for a profit of 2.99 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv data.

Asset quality improved, with gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans standing at 10.25 percent at end-December, versus 10.56 percent in the previous quarter. This was also lower than 10.38 percent in the same period a year ago.

 

($1 = 71.1475 rupees)

(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)