When did the Portuguese come to India?

First contact with the Portuguese with the Indians happened on 20 May 1498, when the explorer Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut off the coast of Malabar. 

This event would mark the beginning of Portuguese presence in India that would end only with the liberation of Goa in 1961

For further reading check the following articles:

• Portuguese India
• Liberation of Goa