India’s Operation Sindoor against Pakistan highlighted the importance of indigenous weapons. Even CDS General Anil Chauhan and Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi have time and again emphasised the need for having indigenous equipment and vectors. In the Indian startup ecosystem, a quieter revolution is underway—one that places nation-first innovation above consumer-first growth. Startups across the country are building indigenous technologies to power defence, governance, infrastructure, and cybersecurity. The government has long been promoting MSMEs to cater to the country’s growing defence needs. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has cleared the Defence Procurement Manual (DPM) 2025, a move aimed at speeding up revenue procurement for the armed forces, simplifying processes to support domestic industries, including startups and MSMEs, fostering innovation, and encouraging enterprise.
Recently, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Chairman Dr. Samir V. Kamat also urged micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as well as start-ups to take a more active role in defence research and development.
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Startups and MSMEs are aware of the growing opportunity that India presents. “Some of the startups have dedicated themselves to solving some of India’s toughest domain-specific challenges. From defence simulators and city surveillance to smart classrooms and intelligent dairy systems, startups are not behind in competing with leading global players,” said AS Keshav, founder of Chennai-based KS Smart Solutions. The company has developed AI-powered video management platform and indigenous flight and vehicle simulators that drastically reduce India’s dependence on costly imports, helping the forces.
“The truth is that our problems are unique—our defence requirements, our urban infrastructure, our agriculture and dairy ecosystems, even our manufacturing supply chains. We believe in creating technologies that are born out of India’s context, tailored for India’s realities, and scalable to global markets,” said Keshav.
On August 7, India’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, unveiled the Joint Doctrine for Cyberspace Operations, marking a significant step in the country’s approach to modern warfare. The declassified document underscores India’s recognition that future conflicts will be fought as much in the digital realm as on the battlefield. At its heart lies the understanding that cyber threats cut across traditional service boundaries, a lesson reinforced by experiences drawn from recent global conflicts. During Operation Sindoor, India faces thousands of cyberattacks on critical sites and infrastructure. Now, homegrown firms are doing their best to ace this domain as well.
“Cybersecurity today is no longer just about protecting IT systems—it is about protecting nations,” says Nandakishore Harikumar, Founder, Falcon Feeds, a firm which has developed India’s first MCP (Malware Command-and-Control Protocol) server, an AI-powered threat intelligence access platform that enables enterprises and government agencies to detect, analyze, and counter advanced cyber threats in real time.
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“India cannot rely indefinitely on foreign threat intelligence sources when our digital economy, our defence networks, and our government systems are at risk. Our vision is to build a global-standard cyber defence ecosystem rooted in India, so that Bharat can safeguard its digital frontiers with the same confidence it protects its physical borders,” said Harikumar.
Startups and MSMEs are now increasingly proving that the future of Indian technology lies not only in consumer convenience but in strengthening the country’s sovereignty, resilience, and operational backbone. As India enters its digital decade, such companies are proving that the next chapter of Indian innovation will not be written only in consumer apps, but in the defence labs, surveillance systems, cyber command centers, and intelligent factories that form the invisible but essential backbone of the nation.
