The largest lender of the country, State Bank of India is planning to merge the remaining five subsidiaries of itself in the upcoming 12-18 months time.

The bank has given its strategy behind the consolidation drive saying that the process is a completely planned one which would mainly work to bring economies of scale, decrease overheads mainly the administrative ones and aid in effective deployment of skilled and trained workforce for development of the business as a whole.

State Bank of Saurashtra and State Bank of Indore have already been merged by SBI to itself while State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Patiala , State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur , State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Mysore remain to be done.

The mergers would also be giving the bank a clear lead over its rival, ICICI Bank.