India ONGC Q1 net falls 27 pct, beats forecast

MUMBAI, July 23 (Reuters) - Indian state-run explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.BO) reported a 27 percent fall in quarterly net profit on Thursday, a smaller fall then the market had expected, as crude prices declined sharply.

ONGC, the country's second-most valuable company with a market worth of $48.5 billion, reported a net profit of 48.48 billion rupees ($1 billion), down from 66.4 billion a year ago.

A Reuters poll had expected ONGC's net profit to decline to 46.62 billion rupees. [ID:nBOM527986]

The company gave a discount of 4.29 billion rupees on crude sales to state-run refiners during the quarter, down nearly 96 percent from year earlier, Chairman R.S. Sharma said earlier in the day.

In the June quarter, ONGC shares rose 36.9 percent while the main index .BSESN rose by nearly half.

Ahead of the results, shares in ONGC closed flat at 1,092.85 rupees in a Mumbai market .BSESN that rose 2.6 percent. ($1=48.45 rupees) (Reporting by Ami Shah; Editing by John Mair)