New Delhi: If one is an account holder of State Bank of India’s (SBI) erstwhile seven associate banks including Bharatiya Mahila Bank, the cheques of these banks will become invalid after Dec.31, 2017.

The State-run seven SBI’s subsidiary banks are — State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Raipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Hyderabad and Bharatiya Mahila Bank, whose cheque books will become invalid.

The customers of these banks must get new cheque books, which will bear the new IFSC Code. Recently, the SBI changed names and Indian Financial System Code (IFSC) Codes of nearly 1,300 of its 25,000 branches in the country’s major cities owing to its merger with six associate banks and a Bharatiya Mahila Bank.

The IFSC is a 11-digit alpha-numeric system that uniquely identifies all bank branches participating in the Reserve Bank of India’s fund transfer system. IFSC is mandatory to send or receive money online from one bank account to another.

The bank has asked the account holders to apply for new cheque books before the deadline to avoid any inconvenience. The customers can also apply for the new cheque book by using internet banking, mobile banking or by visiting home branch, said the bank sources.