After the 1947 partition, the term is also employed when it is intended to avoid any allusion to the specific state of origin, also when the topic involves all the Indian subcontinent.
Unlike other areas of the world, the Jewish communities were accepted and integrated in the local society of the Indian subcontinent.
Also, similar to the Parsis, and other (originally) foreign communities, the preservation of group identity was facilitated by the caste system.
The Desi Jewish communities are some of the oldest in world, with more than 2000 years of continuity in the Indian subcontinent (such as the Cochin Jews and the Bene Israel).
They introduced the Inquisition on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent, persecuting the Jewish and Christian communities.