New Delhi, Feb. 9: Two-wheeler giant Bajaj Auto is being carved up – but the plan won’t be placed before the board of directors until May at the earliest.

The plan to dice up the Rs 8,000-crore company between the two sons of Rahul Bajaj — Rajiv and Sanjiv — comes amid reports that the siblings are no longer able to work together.

“The board may take some decision on the issue (demerger) in May or July. Nothing will happen in March (when the next board meeting is scheduled). I have no idea at all about the permutations and combinations that are being considered,” Bajaj Auto chairman Rahul Bajaj told The Telegraph.

Sources say Bajaj Auto will split into two entities — auto and financial services.

The buzz is that Rajiv will continue to head the two-wheeler giant while Sanjiv, the executive director, will handle the financial services business that will be spun off.

Rajiv at present heads the motorcycle and three-wheeler business of the Bajaj group flagship.

As talk of a split in the company swirled, the Bajaj Auto stock surged almost 5 per cent to a day’s high of Rs 3,171.90. However, the stock closed at Rs 3,047.10, up 1.29 per cent.

The board meeting in March is one of the six mandatory meets a year. The meeting in May will consider the annual accounts.

Patriarch Rahul Bajaj played down talk of acrimony between his sons. “In our day to day lives, we all discuss different matters. We are independent people with our own opinions. We don't have to please each other all the time. But we are certainly a close-knit and very loving family,” he added.

Sanjiv also denied a rift with his brother. “The reports are incorrect. There are no differences,” he said.

Rahul Bajaj said the proposal to demerge Bajaj Auto was floated nearly four years ago by the company's management as the foreign institutional investors on the board felt that the company had excessive cash on its books.

According to certain estimates, the company’s cash surplus has swelled to about Rs 8,000 crore from around Rs 3,000 crore four years ago.

Reports suggest that a part of company's cash and investment assets, including its shareholding in its insurance joint ventures with Allianz, will be spun off. There is also an option to merge Bajaj Auto Finance with the new financial services entity, sources said.