This is the heart-stopping moment a commuter dodged a deadly cobra slithering across a pavement in India.

The man was walking to a restaurant for lunch when he encountered the venomous snake emerging from the nearby bushes in Madhya Pradesh, India, on January 15.

CCTV footage shows the local leaping over the cobra just as it raised its head to strike at him.

The restaurant owner called snake wranglers to catch the reptile, which was later freed into a forest.

He said: 'The cobra was quite aggressive. The customer was lucky he saw it before he could be bitten.'

Cobras are one of the world's deadliest snakes. In India alone, there are an estimated 58,000 snakebite deaths a year, with cobras responsible for a significant portion.