He then attended Government College University, Lahore, before being selected to join the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dera Doon.

He was later assigned to 15 (Jhelum) Mountain Battery which, as part of the 50th Parachute Brigade, fought against the Japanese during the Second World War on the Burmese front.

He was then posted from 1962 to 1965 as the Military and Naval Attaché of India to the USSR, concurrently accredited to Poland and Hungary, holding the local rank of brigadier in the role.

[5] Upon return from Moscow in August 1965, Malhotra commanded 1 Artillery Brigade, part of 1 Armoured Division and fought in Sialkot Sector during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

[6] After the ceasefire with Pakistan he commanded 167 Mountain Brigade at Sela Pass, Tawang District, North-East Frontier Agency.

[8] He played a crucial role during the Battle of Sialkot during the Bangladesh Liberation War where, "the thrust by the 1 Artillery Brigade under his command forced Pakistan to thin forces from its main attack column that had overrun Khemkaran and was making a bid to drive a wedge through the heart of Punjab.

[18] Malhotra was a Founder Trustee of the Nehru Trust for the Indian Collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum,[19] and served as the President of India's largest NGO, the "National Association for the Blind" in New Delhi.

[citation needed] Malhotra died at his home in Gurugram due to complications of old age on 29 December 2015.