Holding a Tibetan flag, Sonam Sherabe was raising slogans outside the embassy. As police reinforcements tried to remove him from the diplomatic enclave, he suddenly set himself on fire, a police officer said.
“Some of us pinned him to the ground and doused the flames," the officer said. The Tibetan was rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, where doctors said he was recovering.
According to police, Sherabe is a resident of the Majnu ka Tilla Tibetan settlement in north Delhi.
India is home to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and around 100,000 Tibetan exiles.