By Kashish Tandon and Rishika Sadam

HYDERABAD/BENGALURU Jan 31 (Reuters) - Sun

Pharmaceutical, India's largest drugmaker by revenue,

reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday,

aided by strong sales in the domestic market.

The Mumbai-based firm's consolidated net profit rose 15% to

29.03 billion rupees ($335.3 million) in the third quarter,

beating analysts' average estimate of 28.81 billion rupees,

according to data compiled by LSEG.

Sales in India, Sun Pharma's largest revenue-generating

region, rose 14% to 43 billion rupees, or about 31% of total

sales. That was bigger than the 11% increase in the previous

quarter.

Its high-margin global specialty pharmaceutical segment,

which includes medicines for conditions such as alopecia and

psoriasis, reported a 17.5% jump in sales to $370 million, or

21% of total sales.

"Increasing contribution from global specialty drugs is a

key positive for Sun Pharma and will continue to boost margins

in near term, said Shrikant Akolkar, an analyst at Nuvama

Institutional Equities.

Overall, the company's revenue rose 10.5% to 136.75 billion

rupees, surpassing analysts' estimates of 134.22 billion rupees.

That was despite U.S. sales increasing just 0.7%.

Most of India's generic drugmakers derive a significant

share of revenue from the United States, where lower drug prices

due to stiff competition have been weighing on profit margins.

Among its rivals, Dr Reddy's missed profit

estimates for the quarter, while Cipla beat

expectations. However, both the generic drugmakers saw muted

growth in their key North American market.

($1 = 86.5860 Indian rupees)