Maven webapp-javaee7 archetype throws NullPointerException on generate command

I was creating a JavaEE 7 enabled simple web application through maven with the webapp-javaee7 archtype. I issued the following command:

mvn -e archetype:generate -DgoupId=com.pawandubey -DartifactId=BookAPI -DarchetypeGroupId=org.codehaus.mojo.archetypes -DarchetypeArtifactId=webapp-javaee7 -DarchetypeVersion=1.1 -DinteractiveMode=false

Which threw an unexpected NullPointerException. The stack trace looks like this:

[INFO] Error stacktraces are turned on.
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]                                                                         
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building Maven Stub Project (No POM) 1
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] >>> maven-archetype-plugin:2.2:generate (default-cli) @ standalone-pom >>>
[INFO] 
[INFO] <<< maven-archetype-plugin:2.2:generate (default-cli) @ standalone-pom <<<
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-archetype-plugin:2.2:generate (default-cli) @ standalone-pom ---
[INFO] Generating project in Batch mode
[INFO] Archetype repository missing. Using the one from [org.codehaus.mojo.archetypes:webapp-javaee7:1.1] found in catalog remote
Downloading: http://ift.tt/1HnyBKP
Downloaded: http://ift.tt/1HnyBKP (0 B at 0.0 KB/sec)
Downloading: http://ift.tt/1PBV8NJ
Downloaded: http://ift.tt/1PBV8NJ (0 B at 0.0 KB/sec)
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 26.390s
[INFO] Finished at: Sat May 23 03:55:39 IST 2015
[INFO] Final Memory: 14M/102M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-archetype-plugin:2.2:generate (default-cli) on project standalone-pom: null: MojoFailureException: NullPointerException -> [Help 1]
org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-archetype-plugin:2.2:generate (default-cli) on project standalone-pom: null
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:213)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:153)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:145)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:84)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:59)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.singleThreadedBuild(LifecycleStarter.java:183)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute(LifecycleStarter.java:161)
    at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:320)
    at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:156)
    at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute(MavenCli.java:537)
    at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain(MavenCli.java:196)
    at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:141)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:483)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:290)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:230)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:409)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:352)
Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoFailureException
    at org.apache.maven.archetype.mojos.CreateProjectFromArchetypeMojo.execute(CreateProjectFromArchetypeMojo.java:221)
    at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:101)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:209)
    ... 19 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.apache.maven.archetype.common.DefaultArchetypeArtifactManager.closeZipFile(DefaultArchetypeArtifactManager.java:584)
    at org.apache.maven.archetype.common.DefaultArchetypeArtifactManager.isFileSetArchetype(DefaultArchetypeArtifactManager.java:196)
    at org.apache.maven.archetype.common.DefaultArchetypeArtifactManager.isFileSetArchetype(DefaultArchetypeArtifactManager.java:209)
    at org.apache.maven.archetype.ui.generation.DefaultArchetypeGenerationConfigurator.configureArchetype(DefaultArchetypeGenerationConfigurator.java:125)
    at org.apache.maven.archetype.mojos.CreateProjectFromArchetypeMojo.execute(CreateProjectFromArchetypeMojo.java:205)
    ... 21 more
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
[ERROR] [Help 1] http://ift.tt/1aCDfYM

The problem seems to lie with the archetype, which I think is not being able to be resolved, and its pom is not being found. I tried the same from inside the NetBeans IDE with the same results.

Any hints as to what might be a workaround for this? I tried using maven-archetype-webapp instead, but it generates a slighty different directory structure.

Also, is there a way to supply an archetype jar manually instead of specifying it as arguments? This might be useful as I can download the archetype file from the maven repo manually, and can pass the jar as an argument instead of the archetypeId etc.