Union Bank of India Q4 net profit plunges 78 percent as bad loans rise

MUMBAI (Reuters) - State-run Union Bank of India reported a 78 percent drop in its fourth-quarter profit as it raised provisions for bad loans. Company's net profit fell to 961.2 million rupees ($14.39 million) on a standalone basis for the fiscal fourth quarter ending March 31, from 4.44 billion rupees a year earlier, the Mumbai-based bank said in a regulatory filing on Friday. Analysts on average had expected a net profit of 2.43 billion rupees, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters. Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans increased to 8.70 percent in the March quarter from 7.05 percent in the December quarter. Provisions, including for loan losses, were 55 percent higher compared with last year at 15.65 billion rupees. ($1 = 66.78 rupees) (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy and Himank Sharma; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)