Kunwar Sachdev, who was the first to launch Indian inverters in the market, faced severe challenges including lawsuits and loss of reputation, after his company's bankruptcy. Know about his legacy
The name of Su-Kam company may strike one’s mind, whose founder, Kunwer Sachdev, made inverters for the first time in the country. Sachdev, who started his company about 26 years ago, was popularly known as the ‘Inverter Man of India’. His inverters became a household necessity, not only in the country but abroad as well. However, a tragedy struck when his company was declared bankrupt which led to its decline and reached the verge of being sold off.
Back in 1998, when the power crisis in the country was at its peak and power outages were increasing not only in villages but in cities as well, there was a need for a product that could solve this problem. Kunwer Sachdev, who lived in Delhi, used to be in cable TV business at that time. However, he realized, that his business would be useless without power backup. So he left the cable TV business and established Su-Cam, the first company to manufacture power backup inverter.
Like every business, Sachdev faced challenges as well. When Sachdev’s product came to the market, more than 100 people returned it citing flaws. When he corrected them and launched his product again, it became a hit in the market.
Products like inverter and computer UBS made him popular and his business spread from India to several countries in the Middle East, Africa, in Nepal and in Bangladesh. The specialty of his inverters was that it could function in temperatures ranging from zero to 55 degrees.
Su-Cam’s business was expanding rapidly, but due to Sachdev’s personal reasons, the company defaulted on a loan of about Rs 240 crore. Though the company could have repaid this loan amount easily since it had enough assets, the banks filed a case and declared his company bankrupt.
Sachdev said that as soon as his company was declared bankrupt, its command was handed over to the Insolvency Resolution Professionals (IRP). Overnight, all the distributors and customers of the company got the message that henceforth, they will not be receiving any service. Sachdev’s company built over three decades of hard work by competing with global inverter companies in USA and in China, and gave international recognition to Indian inverters, had to be shut down.
Sachdev described that his troubles were far from over even after shutting down his company. Several lawsuits were filed against him and cases went on in the High Court and the CBI courts. His reputation built over years took a hit and his dealers, distributors and customers gradually started leaving his company. Sachdev said that he was not in a position to help them because all the assets of his company were confiscated by the banks.
When everything built over decades collapsed, Sachdev’s wife, Khushboo showed him a new path. They started providing service to customers through a new venture Su-vastika. The ‘Inverter Man of India’ started working as a mentor for this company and things started to come back on track. Currently, Sachdev’s new company is providing a range of services to its dealers, distributors and customers. The company has also applied for patents for 60 products so far, out of which six have been granted.
