An Israeli tourist was allegedly gang-raped while hitchhiking in northern India.

The woman flagged down a car in the hill resort of Manali at 3am on Sunday.

She asked for a lift to a nearby town in Himachal Pradesh state where she was meeting friends.

There were six men in the car and two of them raped the tourist after stopping at a desolate spot, police said.

The woman boarded the car in the hill resort of Manali (pictured) early Sunday to travel to a nearby town in Himachal Pradesh state

Two of the men were questioned in police custody and a search is on for the other four.

The woman had been trying to reunite with friends who had already left for the nearby town of Keylong after they all arrived in Manali a few days earlier.

She thought she was flagging down a taxi but asked for a lift anyway.

Police were examining CCTV footage from cameras installed on the streets on Manali, popular with holidaying foreigners and Indians, in the hope of identifying the suspects.

'We are examining CCTV footage and hope to nab the culprits. The Israeli embassy has been informed,' superintendent Padam Chand said.

The woman was being treated in hospital after she reported the attack, which took place at about 3am, at the Manali police station later on Sunday.

'She is being shifted today to a bigger hospital in Mandi town to carry out a proper medical examination,' said a Manali police officer.

India hiked punishments for rapists as part of an overhaul of sexual assault laws in the wake of a fatal gang-rape in 2012 that shone a global spotlight on frightening levels of violence against women in India.

But rape and sexual assault remain commonplace, with incidents hitting the headlines on an almost daily basis.