The board of the State Bank of India has approved the mergers of five associate banks and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank Limited with itself, Mint reported on Friday. The bank's total balance now stand at Rs 37 lakh crore (more than $555 billion), according to its chairperson, Arundhati Bhattacharya.

The bank’s board also approved the share swap ratios for three of the associate banks and BMBL. While investors in the State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur will get 28 shares of SBI for every 10 shares they held, investors in the State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore will get 22 SBI shares for every 10 shares. BMBL shareholders with more than 100 crore equity will get 44.2 million SBI shares under the agreement. However, swap ratios for the mergers of State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Hyderabad were not announced.

The board further said that the salary and allowances of the staff of the merging banks will not be less than their counterparts at SBI, adding that the benefits of the retired employees will be protected as well. The mergers will also see India’s largest lender move into the top 50 banks in the world in terms of assets. The bank had faced some trouble earlier when the employees of public sector banks protested against the proposed mergers, which will reportedly be completed by March 2017. According to Mint, the bank had seven associates, of which it has already merged the State Bank of Saurashtra and State Bank of Indore with itself over the past 10 years.