<div>Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, India's fourth-biggest private sector lender by assets, reported a better-than-expected 28 per cent increase in quarterly profit and a stable bad loan ratio, sending its shares up more than 4 per cent.</div><div> </div><div>Kotak Mahindra, which last November agreed to buy smaller rival ING Vysya for $2.4 billion in what was the country's biggest bank takeover, said net profit was Rs 570 crore ($87.5 million) for its fiscal second quarter to September 30 from Rs 445 crore reported a year earlier.</div><div> </div><div>Analysts had expected a net profit of Rs 438 crore, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.</div><div> </div><div>Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans were 2.35 per cent, compared with 2.31 per cent in the June quarter. The bank said year-ago numbers were not comparable since ING Vysya operations were combined effective April 1 this year.</div><div> </div><div>Kotak Mahindra has previously guided for higher credit costs this fiscal year as it makes more provisions related to the acquisition.<br><br>(Reuters)</div>
