By Zarak Khan | 2026-01-27

India has approved a restructuring of front-line army formations aimed at speeding deployment and strengthening its posture against China along the disputed Himalayan frontier. The plan includes the creation of smaller, fast-moving Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) for rapid operations.

"A large number of government sanction letters for organizational changes have been approved over the past 14–15 months, including the path-breaking IBG of [XVII] Corps and the raising of aviation brigades," army chief Gen. Upendra Dwivedi told reporters at his annual news conference on January 13.

The government has approved the long-delayed conversion of the XVII Mountain Strike Corps, a unit raised specifically for operations against China, into self-contained IBGs, said Dwivedi.

The XVII Corps is supposed to have about 90,000 troops.

India clearly is shifting its military posture towards a more agile, China-focused deterrence strategy after years of standoffs and clashes along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border separating the two Asian powers.

Rapid deployment

Under the plan, the army will create "self-contained, agile, brigade-sized fighting units" designed for rapid deployment and high-intensity combat in mountainous terrain, the Indian Express reported on January 12, citing senior officials.

Each IBG will field more than 5,000 troops, with the capability to launch operations within 48 hours of mobilization, Indian media reported.

The first IBG is expected to be carved out of the Panagarh-based XVII Corps, India's mountain strike corps dedicated to the China front.

New Delhi raised the XVII Corps in 2014 and intended it to meet offensive contingencies along the China frontier, but funding and structural delays stalled the corps' progress for years.

The IBG model is designed to speed up the army's notoriously slow mobilization process, say analysts and military planners.

It stems from the Indian army's so-called Cold Start Doctrine, a strategy formulated after the 2001–2002 military standoff with Pakistan to enable rapid, limited conventional operations before an adversary can fully mobilize or escalate the conflict, say defense think tanks.

The army plans two separate types of the fast-moving IBGs, one tailored for the China front and another oriented towards Pakistan, the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank, noted in a report last August.

"IBGs are compact, self-sufficient units that integrate infantry, armor, artillery, and aviation resources under a single command," a 2024 analysis in the Financial Express noted.

The ability to race to border skirmishes or escalations is a priority for the IBGs, it said.

China factor

India's restructuring is widely seen as a response to the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA)'s Western Theater Command (WTC), which oversees Chinese forces opposite India and is described by analysts as the "most expansive" of China's five military commands.

While the WTC has orders to maintain stability in the restive regions of Xinjiang and Tibet, externally it focuses on the Sino-Indian border, according to the Organization for Research on Asia and China, a New Delhi-based think tank focused on China.

The WTC has streamlined joint operations among the PLA Ground Force, Air Force and Rocket Force, focusing on "readiness for potential conflict scenarios" in high-elevation disputed sectors along the LAC, including Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh, the think tank said.

Over the past decade, Beijing has moved from "older divisions to smaller, more versatile Combined Arms Brigades," the Indian Express reported January 12.

Border flashpoint

Tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors have remained elevated since a deadly confrontation in the Galwan Valley in 2020 that killed at least 20 Indian soldiers and at least four on the Chinese side, based on China's later disclosure -- the first combat fatalities along the disputed frontier since 1975.

Even though a border agreement reached in October 2024 helped ease friction at some flashpoints, both sides have continued to reinforce their forward positions with tens of thousands of troops and armor, artillery and air assets, transforming large stretches of the frontier into one of the world's most heavily militarized high-altitude zones.

"After the Galwan clashes, India has moved away from its traditional defensive posture and towards securing the border through a more assertive military doctrine," Krishna Kapoor, a New Delhi-based academic who studies Sino-Indian relations, told Focus.

The IBG concept reflects a broader shift towards capability-driven force design and multi-domain operations in response to perceived threats from the PLA, he said.

The Galwan clashes also "pushed India closer to the United States and other Western partners" through Indo-Pacific groupings such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) involving Australia, India, Japan and the United States, aimed at countering China's growing regional influence, he added.