The incidence of forest fires in India has increased by an order of magnitude over the past two decades, contributing to land degradation, environmental health deterioration, and greenhouse gas emissions. This study examines the requisite components of a post-fire restoration plan (PFRP) appropriate for India’s heterogeneous forest ecosystems. The proposed framework comprises five sequential phases: damage assessment utilizing remote sensing and field surveys; hierarchical planning across temporal scales; implementation of ecological interventions; systematic monitoring; and mechanisms for long-term sustainability. The PFRP is predicated on four guiding principles: preservation of ecological integrity, recognition of fire as an integral ecosystem process, incorporation of landscape-specific contextual factors, and prioritization of ecosystem service continuity. Post-fire restoration in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve case study demonstrates that actively restored plots exhibited recovery of 196 plant species, including 22 endemic taxa, whereas passively restored areas supported only 26 species, with lantana proliferation. Successful restoration necessitates multi-stakeholder collaboration, evidence-based adaptive management protocols, and policy integration across governmental hierarchies. Restoration of fire-impacted areas contributes to the development of resilient forest management strategies in the context of increasing climatic variability and anthropogenic landscape modification in India.