A 13-year-old impoverished Indian schoolgirl, thought to be the youngest female to climb Mount Everest, said on Monday she had never scaled a mountain before setting her sights on the world's highest peak.

Malavath Poorna, daughter of a tribal farm labourer, said she reached the 8848-metre peak on May 25 following a difficult and dangerous climb from the Tibetan side of the mountain in China.

Lioness heart ... Indian mountaineer Poorna Malavath (left), 13, becomes the youngest female to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Credit:AFP

Poorna said she and her 16-year-old friend, a member of India's lowest Dalit caste previously known as "untouchables", climbed the mountain with ten Nepalese guides before hoisting the Indian flag.

"I started to train for Everest last September, my parents and my instructors were very encouraging," Poorna said in Kathmandu before heading home to India.