Before Facebook. Before Hashtags. We Kept the Press Clippings.
2001 to 2008 — every dated PRESS CLIPPINGS page from the Corporate Focus deck, explained as headlines.
By Kunwer Sachdev · Founder & Managing Director, 1988–2018 · Published September 24, 2026 · Historical era: 2001–2008
Primary source: Su-Kam Corporate Focus Keynote — all PRESS CLIPPINGS sheets plus export/brand ads from the same deck. Dates are read from the paper. One durable live URL from the same window: Business Today — Dark horse (4 May 2007).
Facebook came later. The scissors came first.
Below: each clipping as a headline — what the paper said, and why we kept it. Where old magazine URLs have died, the scan is the cite.
2001 — Inverter market, digital launch
Hindustan: Su-Kam as a shining player in the inverter market
12 September 2001. A Hindi national daily put us on the map as a serious inverter name — consumer education, product story, and early export ambition in one clip. This is the scrapbook’s opening shot.
Times of India: “Digital wonders” — micro-controller inverter at ₹9,400
10 December 2001. TOI framed the digital inverter as a consumer technology story, not just a shop-floor box. Price on the page: ₹9,400 — proof we were selling a new category in plain language.
Financial Express: Power inverter from Su-Kam — three-stage charging
12 December 2001. The business daily carried the same digital launch with engineering detail — three-stage charging — for readers who cared how the product worked, not only the sticker price.
DQ Week: Always Online UPS — zero transfer time, 1–40 kVA
27 Dec 2001–2 Jan 2002. Delhi’s IT weekly put us in the UPS column with “Always Online” and 0-transfer time — the bridge from home inverter to commercial power backup.
2002 — Industry boom, schemes, UPS line
Business India: “Generating profits” — a ₹600-crore inverter industry
10–23 June 2002. The fortnightly sized the whole inverter market and named Su-Kam among the winners — sales targets exceeded. Industry context, not just a product insert.
The Hindu: Ghadi Se Ghar Tak — technology launch plus a Gurgaon flat as grand prize
8 July 2002. New technology range and a national consumer scheme in the same story. We were selling trust with a watch-to-home promotion — and a flat in Gurgaon as the top prize.
Dainik Jagran: Interactive UPS series from ₹2,995
7 October 2002. Hindi heartland coverage of a modern UPS line at an entry price that could scale volume. Channel and consumer both read Jagran.
Amar Ujala: Same UPS story, another national Hindi daily
25 November 2002. Parallel Hindi press meant the UPS message was not a one-city leak — it was a national product push in the language of the dealer network.
2003 — Afghanistan export, DSP sine wave, Business India profile
Hindustan: Exporting inverters to Afghanistan — ~₹70 crore, ISO 9001 claim
16 June 2003. Export was no longer a footnote. Hindustan carried Afghanistan shipments, roughly ₹70 crore turnover, and the first-ISO-9001-inverter-company claim we were staking in public.
Dainik Jagran: Country’s first DSP sine-wave inverter — Analog Devices collaboration
30 August 2003. The sine-wave leap went into Hindi print with DSP and Analog Devices USA named on the page — and a photo of me presenting the unit. Technology as news, not brochure copy.
Business India: “Igniting the power back-up industry” — cable TV to ₹80 crore
10–23 November 2003. A full founder profile: cable-TV start, inverter build-out, Rs 80-crore company. This is the clip that treated Su-Kam as a business story, not a product short.
2004 — Market watch, GE Power, Fairy Queen
Indian Express (Chandigarh): “Get the POWER” — 50%+ share, full range
28 June 2004. Market-watch tone: majority share claim, ISO 9001, and the full inverter–UPS range. Regional English press repeating what we wanted dealers to hear.
Economic Times: Su-Kam to sell GE Power’s high-end UPS
29 August 2004. ET put the GE Power distribution pact on the pink paper — 420 distributors / 4,000 dealers cited. Alliance news that signalled we could carry global high-end UPS through our channel.
Alliance Darpan: “Lighting Up Our Homes” — Fairy Queen interview
15 Sep–15 Oct 2004. Magazine Q&A: MOSFET entry, first Indian sine-wave claim, GE heat-resistant plastic body, 19 C&F / 800 distributors / 4,000 dealers — and the Fairy Queen locomotive Home UPS on the page.
Hindu Business Line: “Su-Kam, GE Power in pact”
2 November 2004. Business Line closed the loop on the same GE story with my quote on strengthening the marketing base. Two national business papers, one alliance.
2005 — Goes global, Kanpur, Pure Sine Wave, Nigeria
The Pioneer: Su-Kam goes global with 17 products
22 January 2005. Africa, Asia, Australia named; seventeen products; aim around ₹150 crore. Export ambition written as a national headline, not an internal target.
Rashtriya Sahara (Kanpur): Dealers Meet 2005 — new sine-wave range
9 February 2005. Local paper, national channel moment: dealers meet, sine-wave launch, and a 50% share claim in an ₹800-crore market. How we spoke to the trade in the Hindi belt.
Dainik Jagran: “मेहनत के सौ करोड़” — ₹10,000 to ₹100 crore
18 February 2005, Kanpur. The hard-work-to-hundred-crore profile — EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 noted on the page. This is the founder story Hindi India kept on the coffee table.
Economic Times: Pure Sine Wave Home UPS — metro advertorial
18 March 2005. Paid space across metro editions, but it was how we taught India the Pure Sine Wave Home UPS line in the pink paper’s language. Brand education at national scale.
The Guardian (Nigeria): Solar capacity-building with SEAPS
26 April 2005, page 41. Lagos paper on SEAPS Limited partnering with Su-Kam — Indian engineers training Nigerians on digital pure sine wave inverters/UPS. Export as skills transfer, not only boxes on a ship.
2006–2008 — Middle East, Tanzania, awards, Superbrand
Technical Review Middle East: World-class power backup from India
Vol. 22 / Issue Six, 2006. Gulf trade magazine ad with CE, UL, ISO on the page — India power backup sold into a region that judged brands by certification first.
The Guardian (Tanzania): Journalists at Kaps Battery — sole Su-Kam distributor
20 March 2007. East African paper covering a press visit to Kaps Battery Limited. Export was not only invoices — it was local partners and local newspapers.
Sun & Wind Energy: International export ad — CE / UL / ISO
Issue 2/2007. European renewables journal carrying Su-Kam with the same certification stack. We were already speaking solar-adjacent markets before the Facebook solar years.
REVIEW: “Only a phone call away” — Jaideep N. Malaviya on Su-Kam
~2006–07 on the page. Sector review with 2006 PV figures and 2007 plans — Su-Kam written into the renewable conversation by a named industry writer.
Dainik Jagran: “सुकैम इनवर्टर खरीदने पर निकली मर्सिडीज”
1 May 2007. Lucky-draw news from the Su-Kam Lao Mercedes Chalao scheme (draw 28 April, Delhi) — Mercedes, Corolla, Honda City winners named. Consumer bond as Hindi headline.
Business Today: “Dark horse” — the durable live URL
4 May 2007. The one clip from this window that still opens online. Same season as the overseas ads and ISO slide — read Dark horse here.
ISO 9001:2000 certificate — 28 June 2007
Kept in the Corporate Focus deck next to the press pages. Quality system as scrapbook proof — not a press headline, but the paperwork the clippings kept pointing at.
Sourcing Electricals & Lighting: Su-Kam bags Exports Sectoral Award
Nov–Dec 2007. ESC Government of India Sectoral Award – Non-SSI (Consumer Electronics) 2006–07 — highest electronics/IT exports; 40+ countries; USA branch planned for 2008; export target ₹75 crore vs ₹27 crore prior year.
Sunday Times (TOI): “Made in Innovative India” — batteries at 25% cost, service-signal inverters
2 December 2007, New Delhi. CII adviser Ram Mohan naming Su-Kam in a national innovation feature — long-life batteries at a quarter the cost, and inverters that signal the company when they need servicing.
Superbrands: Business Superbrand cover language
Cover from the deck; awards record places Business Superbrand in 2008. Brand book status after years of scissors-and-glue press — the scrapbook’s closing brand stamp.
Early exhibition booth — CE and ISO on the wall
Undated photo from the same deck. Fair name not printed on the frame — what matters is the wall: CE / ISO as the first thing a visitor saw.
Roadside billboard — Seven Hills Impex, overseas brand
Inverters / UPS / Batteries / Solar Systems under the Su-Kam logo; distributed by Seven Hills Impex Ltd. No printed date — export presence in the wild, not only in magazines.
What I Want on Record
From September 2001 through 2008, the Corporate Focus scrapbook holds the national Hindi and English dailies, Business India profiles, Economic Times product and GE-pact news, Middle East and Tanzania pages, and Superbrand language — before any Facebook archive existed.
One blog. Every clipping as a headline. When the web forgets, this is how the news stays.
Verified Sources
- Corporate Focus Keynote — full PRESS CLIPPINGS / THE NEWS MAKER section (primary scans)
- Business Today (4 May 2007) — Dark horse (Kunwer Sachdev / Su-Kam)
- KunwerSachdev.com — CE mark essay
- Awards deck blog — Business Superbrand 2008
- Intersolar Europe Munich 2011 — later chapter
FAQ
What years do these press clippings cover?
Dated scans in Su-Kam’s Corporate Focus Keynote run from September 2001 through 2008 (Technical Review / Guardian / Sun & Wind Energy / Superbrand era), with one durable live URL — Business Today’s Dark horse feature of 4 May 2007.
Why so few live web links?
Most mid-2000s Indian and overseas clippings never stayed permanently online. Dates and headlines are taken from the paper itself. Where a durable URL exists, it is cited.
Is this a Facebook-archive blog?
No. Facebook-era posts begin later (mainly 2010+). This is Corporate Focus Archive · Pre-2010 — the scrapbook before the social feed.
What publications appear?
Among others: Hindustan, The Times of India / Sunday Times, The Financial Express, DQ Week, Business India, The Hindu, Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala, The Indian Express, The Economic Times, The Hindu Business Line, Alliance Darpan, The Pioneer, Rashtriya Sahara, The Guardian (Nigeria), Technical Review Middle East, The Guardian (Tanzania), Sourcing Electricals & Lighting, Sun & Wind Energy, and the Superbrands cover.
