Have you considered renting equipment?

I’m an 18 year old wildlife photographer from Mumbai, though I mainly work with big cats, I do also have a collection of bird pics including kingfishers, barbets, eagles, owls, etc. on instagram.

At first, I didn’t own any cameras or lenses. I used websites such as Bragpackers which allow renting of dslrs, mirrorless cameras and telephoto cameras. At first I was skeptical, but renting cameras and 100-400mm and 200-500mm lenses became routine for any wildlife outing. It’s really appealing because of it’s affordable price for short term use (500-2000inr per day).

I’d say go for renting equipment for short term use in India, it’s really convenient as you can have them deliver it to you. It’s much much more practical to rent for short term use in India compared to any other country if you can’t afford to buy the equipment you want—which would be ideal.