India’s defense industry stands at a crossroads as its traditional DPSU-dependent heavy manufacturing-driven approach is at odds with the rapid emergence of digital technologies in the defense domain, more suited to the agile private sector firms. While there is comfort in technologies already mastered, if India’s defense private sector is to seize the opportunity from emerging defense technologies and grow to master disruptive innovation, then it has to be provided with the right ecosystem to nurture its growth. This report suggests a pathway for creating the right ecosystem in which the Indian private defense ecosystem could meet the changing needs of India’s defense forces.