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Its definitely happening due to air in the brake lines.

same problem here with pulsar 150 ug2

hi incipient
my pulsar also suffering from this problem
recently I changed new break fluid & changed new brake pads in my pulsar 150 ug2 & my brake lever is not working it is totally free not engaged when i pushes too slowly & gently but when i pushes too hardly & fast it engages & perfectly working like new one
I also checked the break fluid level but its more then enough
I think there is an air bubble in hose or caliper

Generally (bleeding) air in the pipe should solve the problem for the bike that has has run around 4K ... else the next level issue with a small piston that is attached to the brake lever wears out due to prolonged use (age factor), but I dont think that wld be the case for your bike... the piston problem generally does not raise it ugly head till about 30K Kms (+-10K Kms depending on usage)

ok, i showed the problem to two different Yamaha SVCs. tried bleeding the brakes ... no improvement at all.

there are two camps of opinions across the SVCs: one, everythings normal with the brake and two, the master cyclinder kit needs replacement.

apparently, the master cyclinder kit is not available so will need to replace the complete master cylinder unit. cost 4400 + labor :-(

i wonder if the master cyclinder is covered in the one year warranty (my bike is 11 months old)?

Two things
1) Most probably it's an issue of ineffective bleeding. You ll have to bleed the brakes properly and seems like SVC isn't doing/taking that seriously.
2) Even considering SVC's conspiracy theory of Master cylinder suddenly loosing its effectiveness, you still have warranty to claim that part. I would recommend you to escalate this issue and complain to regional officer or Yamaha India. This is sheer case of negligence.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

Today got the master cylinder kit changed under warranty. Unfortunately, that made zero difference.
The brakes were bled again (properly) too. Checked the calliper internals (piston) everything is fine.
I also checked out the brake feel on some the other R15's at the SVC. They all felt the same.

I guess i was expecting a bit too much in terms of stopping power.
Pads were about half worn out got those changed. As expected, that improved the braking performance quite a bit (less lever travel now).
I feel that the R15's brakes have got good feel and are progressive but in terms of absolute stopping power its not quite up there with the best.
Me thinks steel braided brake lines will help but still haven't found one in Delhi..