It was raised by Captain Donald Macdonald at Vellore on 12 August 1794, as the 34th Battalion of Madras Native Infantry.

The regiment's next major action was in the Second Maratha War, where it fought in the Battle of Assaye on 3 September 1803, under General Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington.

[1]In 1902, the regiment, now designated as the 24th Madras Infantry, was reconstituted with Punjabi Muslims, Sikhs and Rajputs.

Next year, as a result of the reforms brought about in the Indian Army by Lord Kitchener, all Madras units had 60 added to their numbers, and the regiment's designation was changed to 84th Punjabis.

During the first three years of the First World War, the 84th Punjabis remained deployed on the North West Frontier of India.

After spending 1919–20 in Turkey as part of the Allied occupation forces, it returned home in October 1920.