India falls in a list of nations whose governments do not have an official or preferred religion, a PEW report announced on Tuesday.

The report, which covered 199 countries and territories from around the world, said that 106 countries (53%) don't have an official or preferred religion. 43 nations (22%) had an official state religion, 40 nations (20%) had preferred or favoured religion, while 10 nations (5%) were hostile to religious institutions.

"No country names Hinduism as its official state religion – though India has a powerful Hindu political party, and Nepal came close to enshrining Hinduism in 2015, when the rejection of a constitutional amendment declaring Hinduism as the state religion led to a confrontation between pro-Hindu protesters and police," the report added.

27 countries officially enshrine Islam as the official religion, while 13 countries, which include 9 European nations, officially say that Christianity is the official state religion.

"But an additional 40 governments around the globe unofficially favour a particular religion, and in most cases the preferred faith is a branch of Christianity. Indeed, Christian churches receive preferential treatment in more countries – 28 – than any other unofficial but favoured faith," the report added.

The report also added that more than eight-in-ten countries (86%) provide funding or resources specifically for religious education programs or religious schools that disproportionately benefit the official religion.While India's Constitution has no official or preferred religion, another PEW research said in 2015 said that India was one of the countries that had the highest combined levels of government restrictions and social hostilities involving religion in 2015. "Nigeria, India, Russia, Pakistan and Egypt had the highest levels of social hostilities involving religion among the 25 most populous countries in 2015. All fell into the “very high” hostilities category," the report added.

According to the 2011 census, 79.8% of the population of India practises Hinduism and 14.2% adheres to Islam, while the remaining 6% adheres to other religions (Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism and various indigenous ethnically-bound faiths). While Hinduism occupies a majority, Article 25 of the Constitution of India allows for religious freedom and gives every Indian the right to practice his/her religion, without government or communal intervention.