section_path: History/Missions/India
section_name: India
paragraph_text: India
  
  After an extensive period of expansion in India from the 15th century the Portuguese Augustinians had not only established the order but also provided sixteen Indian bishops between 1579 and 1840. The order subsequently disappeared in India, cut off from its usual governance after the suppression of Portuguese monasteries in 1838, and the friars were forced to become secular priests. The order had failed successfully to establish an autonomous indigenous Indian foundation.
  
  However, the Augustinians were re-established by Andrés G. Niño, Spanish Augustinian, named coordinator of the project by the General Chapter of the Order in 1971.... (cf., Estudio Agustiniano, 45 (2010) 279-303)....... and the Indian Augustinians took on further responsibilities in Kerala in 2005. The Indian delegation currently has 16 ordained friars and 8 in simple vows. The order is growing numerically in India.