(i) Under Bahman Shah and Muhammad Shah, the administrative system was well organised. The kingdom was divided into four administrative units called 'taraf or provinces. These provinces were Daultabad, Bidar, Berar and Gulbarga. Muhammad Shah defeated the Vijayanagara kingdom and consequently Golconda was annexed to Bahamani kingdom.

(ii) Every province was under a tarafdar who was also called a subedar. Some land was converted into Khalisa land from the jurisdiction of the tarafdar. Khalisa land was that piece of land which was used to run expenses of the king and the royal household.

(iii) The services and the salary of every noble was fixed. Those nobles who kept 500 horses were given 100,000 huns annually. If short of the stipulated troops, the tarafdar would have to reimburse the amount to the central government. Nobles used to get their salary either in cash or in form of grant of land or 'jagir'.

(iv) Bahamani ruler depended for military support on his armies. There were two groups in the ranks of amirs: One was the Deccanis who were immigrant Muslims and had been staying for a long time in the Deccan region. The other group was Afaquis or Pardesis who had recently come from Central Asia, Iran and Iraq and had settled in the Deccan region recently.

(v) Between both these groups there was always tension to appropriate better administrative positions. Because of their feuds,the stability of the Bahamani Sultanate was affected. For the first time in India both these used gunpowder in warfare. The Bahamanis were already familiar with the use of firearms. They employed Turkish and Portuguese experts to train the soldiers in the latest weaponry of warfare.