In South Asia, this species is found from arid zones to wet and humid areas. It is equally abundant in forested areas and in rural landscapes, but in urban landscapes its populations are declining (B. Srinivasulu and C. Srinivasulu pers. comm. 2018). It roosts in hollows of trees, holes, crevices and cracks in walls and ceilings of old buildings, dead leaves of trees. In Southeast Asia this is a largely forest species inhabits primary and secondary hill, montane and montane mossy forest (Heaney et al. 1998). It is adapted to highly disturbed habitats, gardens, and mangrove forests (P. Bates pers. comm. 2006). In Vietnam this bat was found, besides natural landscapes, in Casuarina growth close to sea shore and in Hanoi city in urban area (Kruskop 2013). It is an early flyer, with a varied flight pattern from a jerky flight with many twists and turns to a slow fluttering and floating flight to an erratic flight as the evening progresses. Its diet is varied and seasonal. It feeds on beetles, cockroaches and wingless ants in winter, on a wide variety of insects in summer and on winter termites, moths, hymenopterans, dipterans and beetles during monsoon. There are two breeding seasons one in February-March and the other in July-August and between one to three young are born (Bates and Harrison 1997).

This widespread species is found throughout much of South Asia, southeastern China and Southeast Asia. In South Asia, this species is presently known from Afghanistan (Laghman and Nangarhar Provinces) (Benda and Gaisler 2015), Bangladesh (Chittagong and Sylhet divisions), India (Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal), Nepal (central and mid-western), Pakistan (North West Frontier Province, Punjab and Sind) and Sri Lanka (Central, North Central, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva and Western provinces) In those areas it has been recorded form sea level to 769 m asl (Molur et al. 2002). It is present over much of southeastern China, including the island of Hainan (Smith and Xie 2008). In Southeast Asia, it is found throughout the mainland, from northern Vietnam (Tu et al. 2016) ranging into Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok, Sulawesi, Seram and Serasan), the island of Timor (East Timor and Indonesia), Borneo (Indonesia, Malaysia and possibly Brunei, the species is possibly more widespread than currently known [C. Francis pers. comm.) and the Philippines, where it has been recorded on Cebu (Paguntalan pers. comm. 2006), Luzon (Rizal Province), Mindanao (Taylor 1934), Negros, and Sibuyan (Heaney et al. 1998) where it occupies an altitudinal range from sea level to 800-1,700 m (P. Bates and L. Heaney pers. comm. 2006). However, similar to other widespread Oriental pipistrelles, allocation of some mentioned population to P. coromandra requires further studies.

In Southeast Asia the species has been recorded from many protected areas. In South Asia, the species has been recorded from protected areas in India like Satpura National Park in Madhya Pradesh, Agasthiyamalai Biosphere Reserve in Tamil Nadu (Vanitharani 2006) and Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve in Andhra Pradesh (C. Srinivasulu pers. comm. 2008). In Vietnam this species occurs in several protected areas, including Bugiamap, Cattien, Yokdon and Bavi National parks. Further studies are needed into the taxonomy, distribution, abundance, reproduction and ecology of this species.