A 52-year-old Indian lingerie model is pushing e-commerce firms to hire older women for their advertising campaigns, challenging what she says are the ageist norms practised by many companies.

Geeta J, a former teacher who took to modelling when she turned 50, says she wants innerwear companies in India to be more inclusive and avoid featuring only younger women in their promotion drives.

"Are women no more fit to become a lingerie model past a certain age?," Geeta has said in an online petition on Change.org, captioned with the hashtags '#AgenotCage' and '#LingerieHasNoAge', which she started this year.

Her job is bold and unusual in the largely conservative Indian society where religious and cultural norms limit women's freedom to dress the way they want.

Such norms are even more restrictive for women over the age of 40, Geeta told Reuters in an interview.