Setting the ball rolling to hasten amalgamation of its associates to become one of the top 30 banks in the world, SBI today announced its plans to merge State Bank of Indore with itself, which immediately invited a strike threat on June 22 by employees of the subsidiary.

"The board of Directors of State Bank of Indore has passed a resolution recommending the merger or acquisition of State Bank of Indore with or by State Bank of India," SBI informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The proposal for the acquisition of State Bank of Indore is subject to approval by RBI and the government.

The merger of all associates of State Bank with itself will take the total assets of the combined entity to Rs eight lakh-crore, which will help the lender to become a global financial powerhouse.

Besides State Bank of Indore, SBI has five associates namely State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad.

"As per the advice of AIBEA and AIBOA, the entire employees and officers of State Bank of Indore will observe an strike on June 22," said All India Bank Employees' Association General Secretary C H Venkatachalam. Earlier this month, the union had already announced nation-wide strike by associate banks on July 3.