(Reuters) - Union Bank of India reported its third straight quarterly profit on Monday as the state-controlled lender made lower provisions for bad loans, but missed analysts' estimates by a wide margin, sending its shares sharply lower.
Net profit was 1.53 billion rupees ($21.48 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, 2018, compared to a loss of 12.50 billion rupees a year earlier, the bank said.
That compares to analysts' average estimate of a profit of 3.24 billion rupees, I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv showed.
Asset quality improved slightly, with gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans coming in at 15.66 percent by the end of December, compared to 15.74 percent a quarter earlier and 13.03 percent a year earlier.
($1 = 71.2350 rupees)
(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
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