India was ill prepared for any conflict on the Eastern border; most of its strike forces geared towards a conflict on the Western border instead. However it was rude awakening for Indian armed foreces. It winnowed out the doves and changed Indian stance into a hawkish mode.
Even if India was prepared for conflict the poor performance though less poor would still have probably resulted in an Indian defeat. Even today if friction on the North East were to develop into a conflict, Indian forces would be defeated for the reason that Chinese forces are better equiped and similarily trained. Even a hawkish "mode" cant change the fact that India is still forced to maintain the bulk of its force on its Western border, and even in conflict with China India will still be forced to maintain 500,000 troops on the West.