The Day Su-Kam Died: What Really Happens When a Company Goes to Liquidation

The IBC Files: An Entrepreneur’s Perspective — Part 2 of 8

On April 3, 2019, the NCLT ordered liquidation of Su-Kam Power Systems Limited. That single order ended everything — the service, the call centre, the emails, the factory operations. A company that was serving millions of customers across India was switched off in one day.

And nobody was held responsible for the destruction that followed. Nobody except me — because I was the one who created the company.

Kunwer Sachdev with Su-Kam employees at Baddi factory — With the Su-Kam team at our Baddi factory — the people behind the brand

2,000 People Lost Their Jobs in One Day

Nearly 2,000 people — employees on the rolls and contractor workers — lost their jobs in a single day. Their salaries were not paid. They were told: when the company is sold, your salary will be released. That was the answer. Go home, wait, and hope.

But they didn’t just go home. Their families came to my house. Wives, children, elderly parents — standing at my door, asking me to help. And I was in no position to help anyone. My own salary had stopped coming six months before. I took loans from friends and family. My wife sold jewellery so we could keep going.

Su-Kam employees at company gathering — Su-Kam employees at a company gathering — every hand raised here lost a livelihood overnight

In Baddi, the factory workers called me — not to ask, but to abuse. I don’t blame them. They were frustrated, desperate, angry. They had mouths to feed and no answers. And the Liquidator? He never picked up a single call — not from employees, not from dealers, not from suppliers, not from customers.

In India, the supplier and employee look up to you. The employee says — I came on your behalf only. The supplier says — I supplied goods on your reputation only. And when the system destroys what you built, they don’t go to the Liquidator or the NCLT. They come to you. Because in their eyes, you are still responsible.

And Then Came the Rot

Su-Kam factory workers outside Baddi plant — Workers outside the Su-Kam Baddi factory — this facility was left unguarded after liquidation

When the bankers close a company through the IBC, there is no plan for what happens to the physical assets. Su-Kam had seven locations across India. The Liquidator’s priority? Paying for court cases and professional fees to firms like PwC. Security guards? Not paid. Electricity bills? Not paid.

So what happens when you stop paying the people guarding your warehouses and factories? They help themselves. Goods were stolen. Equipment was pilfered. The security staff — unpaid and abandoned — sold whatever they could get their hands on.

No handover of the company was ever done. There was no inventory. People took whatever they could from all seven locations, and nobody — not the Liquidator, not the NCLT, not the banks — was interested in preserving a single thing. My emails to the Liquidator went unanswered. The company I built with thirty years of sweat went to the dogs — and the system watched it happen.

The International Operations — Stranded Across the World

Su-Kam was not just an Indian company. We had built an international presence over years — distribution networks, export operations, people travelling in different countries representing the brand. This was an Indian brand created so preciously over a period of time, taken to global markets with pride.

When the liquidation order came, our international teams did not know what to do. People in different countries — representing Su-Kam, meeting distributors, servicing customers — suddenly had no company behind them. No email support. No one to answer calls. No one there. The brand that international partners had trusted and invested in simply vanished overnight.

Our international distributors and partners had built their businesses around the Su-Kam brand. They had stocked inventory, made commitments to their customers, invested in showrooms and service centres. And one day — nothing. No warranty support, no spare parts, no communication. An Indian brand that was competing on the world stage, destroyed not by the market but by the system.

The Suppliers Who Died with Su-Kam

The suppliers got nothing out of this process. Absolutely nothing. It was a trauma for them as much as it was for me. Three of my suppliers closed down permanently — their businesses were 100% dependent on Su-Kam. They had built their entire livelihood around supplying to us. When Su-Kam was killed overnight, they died with it.

Nobody compensated them. Nobody even acknowledged their loss.

Su-Kam team with certificates at office — The Su-Kam team receiving awards — people who gave their best years to the company

The Numbers That Expose the System

Su-Kam had ₹600 crore in annual revenue the year before CIRP was initiated. The fair valuation was assessed at approximately ₹300 crore. I was ready to offer ₹250 crore with bank support to save the company.

Instead, the company was sold during COVID — when no buyers, sellers, or meetings were practically possible — for just ₹49.50 crore.

And the banks? After years of proceedings, they received a mere ₹8 crore.

The Su-Kam brand — a name I built over three decades, a brand that millions of Indian homes trusted — was sold at zero value as per the NCLT records. Zero. A brand worth hundreds of crores, reduced to nothing on paper, handed over to strangers from Panchkula who had no connection to the power backup industry.

₹250 crore offered by the builder. ₹8 crore received by the banks.
Tell me — who did this system protect?

What It Does to You Inside

People are coming for help. The agencies are there for raids and questioning. Your court cases are going on and what’s coming next is unknown. You start feeling as if you have done a great crime by building this company, creating these products, building this brand, and giving employment.

I never read a single article on entrepreneurs in the whole bankruptcy discourse. Every one of us is so terrified — we are only answering for what wrong we did running the company, and not what we created for society and the nation at large.

We gave taxes. The banks — we gave interest. And we did something good. But no, not enough. Your morale and confidence is all shaken by this process.