BENGALURU, Jan 23 - India's Shriram Finance posted a bigger-than-expected third-quarter profit on Friday, bolstered by strong loan growth.

The non-bank lender reported a profit of 25.22 billion rupees ($274.87 million) in the quarter ended December 31, compared to an average analyst estimate of 24.15 billion rupees ($263.89 million), as per data compiled by LSEG.    

($1 = 91.7512 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Abhirami G and Nishit Navin in Bengaluru)