ONGC net slumps 34 percent, misses estimates

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corp posted a 34 percent slump in quarterly profit, lagging expectations, as higher costs and write-offs hurt margins.

The state-run company reported net profit of 40.16 billion rupees for its first quarter ended June, down from 60.78 billion rupees a year earlier. Net sales fell 4.3 percent to 192.18 billion rupees.

Analysts on average, had expected the company to post net profit of 49 billion rupees for the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine data.

($1 = 60.86 rupees)

(Reporting by Prashant Mehra; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)