The Apostolic Delegation to the East Indies was established in 1881, and included Ceylon, and was extended to Malaca in 1889, and then to Burma in 1920, and eventually included Goa in 1923.

On 12 June 1948 this Delegation was raised, by Pope Pius XII, to the rank of an Internunciature, and eventually became a Nunciature on 22 August 1967, during the pontificate of Pope Paul VI.

Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) was detached in 1967, and Burma (now Myanmar) in 1973 (Malaca, as part of modern Malaysia, being detached in 1957).