It's a real pity that today's young Indians are being denied the real essence of Deepavali which was being enjoyed by earlier generations in the form of fireworks, even till as recently as just a few years ago. Among all the available firework brands, one particular brand which had become synonymous with firecrackers, was the Sivakasi based "Standard Fireworks".

It's a real pity that today's young Indians are being denied the real essence of Deepavali which was being enjoyed by earlier generations in the form of fireworks, even till as recently as just a few years ago. Among all the available firework brands, one particular brand which had become synonymous with firecrackers, was the Sivakasi based "Standard Fireworks". 

The roots of Standard Fireworks Ltd can be traced all the way back to 1942, when NRK Rajarathnam, a highly dynamic & ambitious young entrepreneur established Rajarathnam Industries to produce "safety matches" (matchbox) at Sivakasi. Soon, he noticed that most of the firecrackers sold in the market were shoddy, with very high defective rates. That's when he came up with the idea of venturing into the firecrackers segment as well, with focus on very high quality standards, and thus aptly named it "Standard". 

Word soon spread about this new brand in which "Not even a single cracker would go waste", and the brand hence started gaining popularity despite its premium pricing. By the 1960s, as brands like Sri Kalishwari, Chavi, Anil, Cock-Brand, etc started expanding their operations, Standard reached saturation point due to cut-throat competition. It looked like a crowded market where every brand offered the same set of firecrackers, at almost same quality and price with hardly any uniqueness or brand recall among them.

That's when Standard Fireworks opened up its new weapon called innovation to differentiate itself from the rest. Since the nationalist sentiments  were at an all time high as a result of India's resounding victory in the 1965 & 1971 wars, during which the nation's military prowess had mesmerized the masses, Standard Fireworks banked upon those sentiments by introducing a new series of firecrackers which caught the imagination of kids. 

With military themed firecrackers like "Propeller", "Night Parachute", "Submarine Jet", "Parade", etc, Standard won the hearts of kids who loved to light up such firecrackers by pretending themselves to be like soldiers, using those cracker "missiles" to destroy "enemies across the borders". The success prompted Standard to continue focusing on innovation with newer & unique offerings year after year, and thus over time, Standard Fireworks became the "de-facto standard" among kids. The company's popularity continued to skyrocket, and reached its peak in the early 2000s, when the rising incomes among Indian middle class enabled them to increase their festive budgets. 

However, from 2004-2005, due to intense & extensive campaigns of various NGOs targeting Deepavali for its alleged role in pollution (but the same NGOs & activists surprisingly enjoyed cracker celebrations during Christmas & New Year's Day), and policies by subsequent govts into curbing this tradition, sales of the overall fireworks industry, including Standard Fireworks, has been on a continuous decline. Hence, to compensate for the dwindling sales in India, the company has now started focusing more on overseas markets by setting up subsidiaries in all major countries, and hopes to soon become one of the top international brands at the global stage.