At least 15 people, most of them students, have been killed in a fire at an animation training centre in Lucknow city in northern India, authorities say.

The fire broke out in the Aliganj area of Lucknow, the capital of India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, local media reported.

News footage showed a group of men in uniform carrying bodies as a crowd gathered nearby.

About 20 students were present when the fire broke out, police said, adding that two were seriously injured and four were stable.

The centre trained students to create animations, the state's Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak told reporters.

The cause of the fire was being investigated.