The religious data on India Census 2011 was released by the Government of India on 25 August 2015. Hindus are 79.8 % (966.3 million), while Muslims are 14.23 % (172.2 million) in India. and Christians are 2.30 % (28.7 million). According to the 2011 Census of India, there are 57,264 Parsis in India. For the first time, a "No religion '' category was added in the 2011 census. 2.87 million were classified as people belonging to "No Religion '' in India in the 2011 census 0.24 % of India 's population of 1.21 billion. Given below is the decade - by - decade religious composition of India until the 2011 census. There are six religions in India that have been awarded "National Minority '' status - Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis. Sunnis, Shias, Bohras, Agakhanis and Ahmadiyyas were identified as sects of Islam in India. As per 2011 census, six major faiths - Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains make up over 99.4 % of India 's 1.21 billion population, while "other religions, persuasions '' (ORP) count is 8.2 million. Among the ORP faiths, six faiths - 4.957 million - strong Sarnaism, 1.026 million - strong Gond, 506,000 - strong Sari, Donyi - Polo (302,000) in Arunachal Pradesh, Sanamahism (222,000) in Manipur, Khasi (138,000) in Meghalaya dominate. Maharashtra is having the highest number of atheists in the country with 9,652 such people, followed by Kerala.
muslim population in india according to 2011 census
172.2 million