It was founded in its inaugural conference held from 1–3 November 1980 at Shaheed Kartar Singh Saraba village in Ludhiana, Punjab.

[7] Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who was a former secretary of Bengal fraction, and a founder Central Committee member of DYFI, Manik Sarkar – the former chief minister of Tripura – was a vice president of the organisation, and M. Vijayakumar who was the speaker of Kerala legislative assembly was once former all-India president of DYFI.

In Tripura there is a separate body, affiliated to DYFI, called Tribal Youth Federation.

On 25 November 1994, five members of DYFI were killed after being shot by state police force during a protest against the commercialisation of higher education at Kuthuparamba in Kannur district, Kerala, while one was paralysed.

[10] At the national level, DYFI publishes the magazine Naujawan Drishti (Youth Vision).