I wouldn't term Indian Military incompetent.
Managing a massive Army of 1.1 million active troops is way more difficult than managing 100,000 troops. Training them, arming them, deploying them, providing logistics; basically getting results becomes more and more challenging. A major issue is bringing them on the same training standard especially when a new weapon is inducted, such as an assault rifle or Main Battle tank, which has to be distributed throughout the force. The training and educational institutions have a limited capacity to train troops in a certain number of months, so delays after delays can be observed. For opening more institutions, further more trainers and instructors are required, which brings an issue of extracting officers from units deployed throughout the country, some in active war zones or UN missions. Since the Indian troops are deployed in different terrains, e.g. mountains, jungles, desert etc, makes it even more difficult to obtain the required number of troops trained in a certain type of warfare. Its hard to send across troops who have completed mountain warfare course to be deployed in desert areas and acclimatize and understand the concepts of desert warfare quickly during an on going war. Similarly, there are a certain number of troops which can be rotated from one zone to another, not everyone can pack their bags and go to a zone which needs more troops, a balance has to be kept in deployments. it is far much easier for armies which operate in 1 or 2 types of zones. IA has to maintain such numbers to counter both China and Pakistan as priority apart from other threats and border issues. While China has more numbers and NK has almost similar numbers, there are no active conflicts such as for LOC for Pakistan-India, where firing takes place almost everyday and escalates quickly. DMZ has seen better years, though longer than LOC.
There are different regiments with different legacies and history. Then there are formations which are para military apart from Regular Army and the training standard of para military is a bit below than that of Regular Army, on top of that, para military makes the first contact with the enemy and the population, whether its BSF deployed on border or CPRF in kashmir, so the causality numbers could go high during combat. The command and leadership of para military can be on par with the Regular Army, but the scale of deployment and operations can vary.
USA has shifted to Brigade combat teams concept, as its easier to handle an effective force of few formations to be deployed quickly anywhere. Effective because 3000-5000 troops are an effective strength to enter a conflict and make an impact. Although IA does use Independent Brigades and all Divisions have Brigades reporting to them, yet a Divisional level or Corps level operation becomes more and more complex, as divisional strength is usually 12000-15000 and Corps strength is almost three times of Divisional strength. This is probably why for offensive operations against Pakistan, IBG's will be used, which are between brigade and Division strength. It would be easier to maneuver this group with armored and mechanized forces supported by artillery and air defense rather than moving an entire division, which then has to move forward from its AOR(Area of responsibility) and conduct combat operations. Using IBG's, infantry battalions can defend the area from Pakistan's counter attack, where as armored and mechanized assets find weak spots in Pakistani defense to enter Pakistan. Then the reinforcements can join up IBG's, which will be arriving from cantonments located far from the border.
The inventory of Indian helicopters has improved over time, although a dedicated and powerful gunship like AH-64 is needed in more numbers than just 22. The LCH and other types of locally produced armed helicopters still do make an impact, forcing PA to improve its AD formations. The fleet of transport helicopters is massive enough with even heavy helicopters to life all types of cargo, except armored vehicles.
IA inventory also is not standardized like NATO countries. Armor operates 2-3 different types of MBT's, Artillery and AD uses different calibers and types of towed guns, SP Guns, MBRL's and missile systems. Some are in the process of phasing out, some are in the process of induction. Modernization of a military is an on-going process but it becomes difficult when number of troops are huge.
The psyche of a subcontinent commander is very different from a NATO commander, its the same for the troops , usage of equipment and deployment of formations. Although it can vary from individual to individual in terms of commanders, some are more daring while others are more calculated, yet the training level, experience, traditions and courses come into play. I don't have much faith in sub continent (India, Pakistan etc) military commanders especially when it comes to armored and mechanized warfare. They make an utter mess of it and let opportunities slip past by them, while they are in the process of making decisions, trying to make their superiors happy.
