May 22 (Reuters) - India's Hindalco Industries HALC.NS posted a surprise profit drop for the second straight quarter on Friday, hurt by expenses linked to a fire-related disruption at its U.S. unit Novelis, despite higher base metal prices.

The Aditya Birla Group-owned firm reported a 50.8% fall in consolidated net profit to 25.97 billion rupees ($271.40 million) for the three month ended March 31, missing analysts estimate of 43.12 billion rupees, per data compiled by LSEG.

($1 = 95.6900 Indian rupees)