Union Bank of India posts loss in fourth quarter

(Reuters) - Union Bank of India Ltd on Thursday posted a loss for a third straight quarter, hurt by higher provisions for bad loans.

Net loss for the quarter stood at 25.83 billion rupees ($383.76 million) for the three months ended March 31, compared with a profit of 1.08 billion rupees a year ago, the state-run bank said in a statement. https://reut.rs/2FZKBJ7

Analysts, on average, had expected a net loss of 11.37 billion rupees, Thomson Reuters Eikon data showed.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans rose to 15.73 percent at end-March, compared with 13.03 percent in the preceding quarter and 11.17 percent a year ago.

 

($1 = 67.3075 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vyas Mohan)