Mumbai, Feb 24 (IANS) : The country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), said on Thursday five of its associate banks would merge with itself from April 2017.

"We advise that the Government of India has issued the orders ...under subsection of Section 35 of the State Bank of India Act, 1955... In terms of the said orders, the entire undertaking of SBBJ (State Bank of Bikaner &Jaipur), SBM (State Bank of Mysore), SBT (State Bank of Travancore), SBP (State Bank of Patiala) and SBH (State Bank of Hyderabad) shall stand transferred to and vested in the State Bank of India from April 1, 2017," the lender said in a regulatory filing to BSE.

The cabinet approved acquisition of subsidiary banks of State Bank of India on February 15.

With the merger of the five associates, SBI is expected to have an asset base of Rs. 37 trillion (Rs. 37 lakh crore), 22,500 branches and 58,000 ATMs. It will have over 50 crore customers.A

SBI first merged State Bank of Saurashtra with itself in 2008 and later State Bank of Indore was merged with it.