Shadow education, a form of private tutoring, is a globally pervasive phenomenon. It has been conceptualised in multiple ways across countries, but relatively little attention has been paid to its diversity within countries. Addressing this gap, this chapter unpacks the heterogeneity of the shadow education industry —by exploring its focus and organisational arrangements—in the empirical context of contemporary India. It draws on the scholarly discussion of shadow education, published between 1990 and 2022, identified via a scoping review method. Through employing Schüpbach’s characterisation tool (2018) and the models of ‘competing impetuses’ (Bae, 2018), this chapter demonstrates a variety in the aims and institutional characteristics of shadow education provisions in the empirical context. Overall, the chapter makes a case for recognising shadow education as a complex phenomenon which often exists in different shapes and forms, thus occupying different spaces within one place. This chapter considers shadow education as integral to contemporary Indian society which shapes its traditionally sustained, and new, socio-economic hierarchies.