...there was still some vestiges of the 'old order' when I spent time there in the 1980s...
In 1979 I spent a month in Chennai (it was Madras at the time) commissioning a factory. The security guard at the door was dressed in a pseudo Indian Army uniform and gave me and my UK team a cracking salute every morning. He didn't seem to do it to any of the local people, not even to the Indian CEO.