The 98th Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It could trace its origins to 1788, when it was raised as the 1st Battalion of the Ellichpur Brigade for the Princely state of Hyderabad. Until 1853, the regiment was part of the Nizam of Hydrabad's Army; then, after the signing of a treaty with the then Governor General of India, the Nizam's Contingent was renamed the Hyderabad Contingent and became part of the regular Indian Army.
After the First World War, the Indian government reformed the army, moving from single-battalion regiments to multi-battalion regiments.[3] In 1922, the 98th Infantry became the 4th Battalion, 19th Hyderabad Regiment. This regiment was allocated to the Indian Army after independence.