A major change occurred after the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857. The East India Company ceased to exist as such; the European troops merged with the Imperial British Army and the Indian troops were re-organised.

The Indian Army before Independence

Grouping based on class and religion were the main features in the army. In the re-organisation, after abolishing some and amalgamating the others in the then existing British and Indian regiments, the ratio of Indian troops to English troops was 2 to 1 in the Bengal army and 3 to 1 in the Bombay and Madras armies. Even the recruitment patterns changed. While earlier there were mixed regiments in Bombay (men from different parts of the country), the Bengal and Punjab army men of different classes and religions were now grouped into separate companies of the same regiments. The native officers of these Companies belonged to the same class and religion. Thus Sikh, Rajput, Brahmin, Punjabi, Muslim, Pathan, Dogra, Gurkha, even Pioneer with mazhabi Sikh Companies came into being and existed as water tight entities ostensibly for cohesion and efficiency. There was also severe curtailment in the recruitment of high caste Brahmins and Rajputs, who until then had filled the ranks of Bengal Army. A chasm may have appeared between the different classes and castes grouped in the name of efficiency to avoid any further subversion in the army. Such separate entities continue to exist till today (Gautam Singh, 1966, pp. 241–242).