Having taken an active part in the 1971 Bangladesh war, he has commanded a brigade on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, a division under a strike corps during the army's deployment along the border with Pakistan after the Dec 13, 2001 attack on parliament and a corps on the Indo-China border. He also headed the Northern Command.

Kapoor has also represented the country as the chief operations officer for all United Nations Forces deployed in Somalia from 1994 to 1995.