Green energy for every Indian — not a privilege, a right.

From keeping the lights on to powering a cleaner future

I started with a simple frustration: in a country this bright, why should a power cut ever leave a family in the dark?

That question built Su-Kam Power Systems and, along the way, much of India’s organised inverter and power-backup industry. We took products designed and engineered in India to more than 70 countries, and we lit up millions of homes during outages — in cities, in towns, and in villages the grid had forgotten.

But power backup was only ever half the story. The other half is the one I care most about now: making green energy available to everyone in India. The sun does not check your income before it shines. My job is to make sure clean energy reaches the same way.

I bet on the sun before it was the obvious choice

Years ago, when most of the industry was still thinking only about batteries and backup, I was convinced solar would reshape how India powers itself. So we moved early — into solar panels, solar off-grid systems, and intelligent power solutions that were energy-efficient and environment-friendly by design.

The logic was never complicated. India has abundant sunlight and a vast population still under-served by reliable power. Pair those two facts and solar stops being a luxury for the few — it becomes the most practical path to power for the many.

That is the heart of the mission today: green energy that is reliable, affordable, and genuinely available to every Indian household — not just the ones who can pay a premium for it.

#MissionSun — envisioning every Indian household powered by solar energy. (CELERITY cover story, from the Su-Kam Solar Facebook archive.)

What I once argued for alone is now national policy

For years I made the case for solar almost single-handedly — when panels were expensive, when there were no subsidies, and when most people thought clean energy was a luxury. I built the products, the factories and the dealer network anyway, because I believed the country would catch up.

Today it has. Solar is no longer a lonely bet — it is driven by the government itself. Rooftop-solar subsidies, net-metering rules, the National Solar Mission, and flagship schemes like PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana are putting solar panels on millions of Indian homes. State after state now sets ambitious renewable targets, and central incentives make a home solar system affordable for ordinary families — exactly the future I pictured decades ago.

This is the part that matters most to me: it is no longer one company convincing families one at a time. A whole nation has decided that the sun belongs to everyone. My job now is to keep the technology ahead of the policy — which is why, at Su-Vastika, I’m still inventing: lithium-ion energy storage, DC solar systems and the next generation of power-backup products that make government-backed solar work even better in the real world.

Government schemes at work years ago: 10,000+ solar homes across 7 Tamil Nadu districts under the CM’s Green House program. (Su-Kam Solar Facebook archive.)

A journey from selling pens to powering a nation

I did not inherit a business or a blueprint. I grew up in a middle-class home in Delhi, went to a government school, and as a boy sold pens on a cycle alongside my brother. I built a cable-TV business, and then saw a gap no one was solving well: dependable power backup for ordinary homes.

• The spark

  A determination to make sure a power cut never had to mean darkness for an Indian family.

• Building Su-Kam — 1988

  Starting Su-Kam Power Systems in 1988 with just ₹10,000 — and turning that idea into one of India’s defining power-solutions companies, helping create the organised inverter industry itself.

• Going global

  Taking India-designed inverters, UPS systems and batteries to more than 70 countries across Asia, Africa and beyond.

• The solar turn

  Moving early into solar and green energy — the mission that drives me today.

Recognition for the work

The journey has been documented and recognised in places I’m proud of — but the real reward is every home that stays lit and every roof that starts generating its own clean power.