Mandated by the US Congress to present an annual report on religious freedom around the world, the administration also speaks of terrorist violence and "atrocities" against certain sections of people, including Kashmiri Pandits, while pointing out that terrorists attempted to provoke inter-religious conflict by detonating bombs.

"The Constitution (of India) provides for freedom of religion, and the National Government generally respected this right in practice," the State Department said in its annual International Religious Freedom Report released on Friday.

However, it said, "some state and local governments, including those of Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, enacted or amended 'anti-conversion' laws during the reporting period. The Governor of Rajasthan, later elected to the Presidency, refused to sign her state's law, effectively nullifying it."

"The vast majority of citizens of every religious group lived in peaceful co-existence; however, there were reports of organised societal attacks against minority religious groups.