Since the Narendra Modi government took over in 2014, India has been able to increase the cost of terrorism on Pakistan and perpetrators within by regularly busting terror modules or by military retaliation against camps across the border.
However, one of the main focuses of the government since Amit Shah took over as Home Minister has been counter-intelligence (CI). Often neglected by the previous regimes, the national security establishment has put CI on the front burner by taking action on foreign intelligence, their networks and their operatives within India.
India's security landscape has faced threats from multiple fronts over the last decade, not just at its borders but deep within its territory. Foreign actors have tried to infiltrate military zones using forged identities, built document fraud networks across multiple states and plant surveillance equipment inside high-security installations.
Pakistani ISI, Chinese intelligence, Bangladeshi terror networks and Western intelligence and their mercenaries have each tried to pursue their own objectives on Indian soil, often simultaneously. However, India's counter-intelligence agencies have progressively dismantled these operations, arresting operatives, chargesheeting handlers and closing in on networks embedded deep within Indian territory.
India's CI response draws on a layered institutional architecture. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) leads federal prosecutions under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Official Secrets Act, with a conviction rate of approximately 95% in cases it handles directly.
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) manages internal intelligence and runs the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) for real-time intra-agency sharing. The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) tracks foreign operatives and cross-border intelligence networks. The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), which guards the Indo-Nepal border and has been central to intercepting Chinese intelligence infiltration.
State police, particularly in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, have been the first line of detection in several major espionage cases. The Border Security Force (BSF) and Army units have supported ground-level operations where intelligence and terrorism threats have converged.
A clear pattern runs through a decade of counter-intelligence operations across India's security landscape. Different actors, different nationalities and different objectives, but a remarkably consistent set of methods, entry routes and vulnerabilities.
ISI's espionage reach extends far beyond J&K. Technical surveillance networks have been found operating inside Delhi Cantonment itself. The Visakhapatnam naval espionage case alone involved multiple arrests.
China is running a patient, systematic intelligence campaign via Nepal. From fake Buddhist monks in Delhi to military installation photography along the Bihar border, multiple arrests from 2022 to 2025 point to coordination, not coincidence.
Document fraud is the common thread across all nationalities. Pakistani ISI operatives, Chinese intelligence agents and Bangladeshi operatives all used or manufactured fake Indian identity documents, Aadhaar cards, voter IDs and passports, to embed and operate inside India.
The Indo-Nepal border has emerged as the single most exploited entry corridor. It is used simultaneously by Chinese intelligence operatives, ISI-recruited Nepali agents and Pakistani spy networks, a structural vulnerability that cuts across all threat streams.
India's counter-intelligence front has grown measurably more capable in its response, operationally sharper, legally stronger and internationally better connected. Yet the threat has evolved in equal measure. Pakistani networks are running increasingly sophisticated technical surveillance operations. China is conducting coordinated cross-border intelligence collection. Foreign mercenaries are treating India's Northeast as an open corridor with Pakistan’s military leadership ready to exploit Indian vulnerabilities in the region by using networks in Bangladesh.
The Indian agencies are also focused on enemies within the establishment who trade national security secrets for silver and kind. With Home Minister Amit Shah expanding the IB network with huge budget increase and large recruitment, the pressure has increased on India baiters.
