Enfield India Ltd. continued production of the 1955 Bullet design almost unchanged, re-introducing it to the British market in 1977 under the name 'Enfield'. This was a period of stagnation for the Bullet, as the Indian owners did not make even basic improvements to the motorcycle, and the quality of parts dropped.

Due to the protectionist nature of the Indian economy, no need for improvement was apparent, and the brand survived into the 1990s essentially as a domestic Indian commuter bike. Equivalent bikes in the market were the Yamaha RD350 and the Yezdi. Both bikes enjoy a cult following in India, but have been out of production for decades. However, this could not prevent the erosion of the bike's market once the economy was sufficiently opened up to allow the Japanese motorbikes. Chronic low quality and mismanagement, coupled with the bike's relatively high fuel consumption (although the Bullet engine is fuel-efficient, its main competition was from bikes with 100 cc engines) caused a descending spiral of sales until the company, near bankruptcy, was bought out by Eicher Motors, a tractor and commercial vehicle manufacturer.