The following is a list of India's official representatives and their placements at the Big Four beauty pageants, considered the most important in the world. The country has won a total of ten victories with eighty-one placements in all four pageants:
- Three – Miss Universe crowns (1994 • 2000 • 2021)
- Six – Miss World crowns (1966 • 1994 • 1997 • 1999 • 2000 • 2017)
- One – Miss Earth crown (2010)
National franchises and Organizations
The Indian franchise holders of the four major beauty pageants are the following:
- Femina Miss India by the Times Group for Miss World
- Miss Divine Beauty by Deepak Agarwal for Miss Earth and Miss International
- Miss Universe India by the Glamanand Group for Miss Universe
India's Big Four titleholders
India won its first Big Four title when Reita Faria from India bagged the Miss World 1966 title, becoming the first Asian to win Miss World.[1] In 1994, Sushmita Sen won Miss Universe 1994, becoming the country's first ever Miss Universe titleholder.[2] Later that year, Aishwarya Rai added to the winning streak, picking up the Miss World 1994 title.[3]
Diana Hayden then won the Miss World 1997.[4] Actor and model Yukta Mookhey was later crowned Miss World 1999.[5] Six years after Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai's double wins, Lara Dutta for Miss Universe 2000 and Priyanka Chopra for Miss World 2000 replicated the feat in 2000, marking the most recent time (as of 2024) that any country has won back-to-back at Miss World and, making India the last country to ever win at both Miss Universe and Miss World in the same year in the 20th century.[6][7] India's appearances at the Miss Universe semifinals from 1992 to 2002 made it the first country in the Eastern Hemisphere to place annually at the pageant for at least 10 consecutive years.
In 2010, Nicole Faria from Bangalore became the first Indian woman to win the Miss Earth 2010 pageant. Manushi Chhillar won the Miss World 2017 title and became the sixth Indian woman to be crowned Miss World. Harnaaz Sandhu won the Miss Universe 2021 title, becoming the third Indian woman to be crowned Miss Universe and the most recent Big Four pageant titleholder from India as of 2024.[8][9]
- Colour Key
- Winner
- Ended as Runner-up
- Ended as one of the Finalists, Semi-finalists or Quarter-finalists
| Year | Miss Universe | Miss World | Miss International | Miss Earth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | TBA | Nikita Porwal TBA |
TBA | TBA |
| 2025 | TBA | Nandini Gupta TBA |
TBA | TBA |
| 2024 | Rhea Singha Top 30 |
Sini Shetty Top 8 |
Rashmi Shinde | Gauri Gothankar |
| 2023 | Shweta Sharda Top 20 |
71st Miss World was postponed to March 2024 | Praveena Aanjna | Priyan Sain Top 20 |
| 2022 | Divita Rai Top 16 |
No Pageant Held | Zoya Afroz | Vanshika Parmar |
| 2021 | Harnaaz Sandhu Miss Universe |
Manasa Varanasi Top 13 |
No pageant held due to COVID-19 pandemic | Rashmi Madhuri |
| 2020 | Adline Castelino 3rd Runner-Up |
No pageant held due to COVID-19 pandemic | Tanvi Kharote | |
| 2019 | Vartika Singh Top 20 |
Suman Rao 2nd Runner-Up |
Simrithi Bathija | Tejaswini Manogna |
| 2018 | Nehal Chudasama | Anukreethy Vas Top 30 |
Tanishqa Bhosale | Nishi Bhardwaj |
| 2017 | Shraddha Shashidhar | Manushi Chhillar Miss World |
Ankita Kumari | Shaan Sumas Kumar |
| 2016 | Roshmitha Harimurthy | Priyadarshini Chatterjee Top 20 |
Rewati Chetri | Rashi Yadav |
| 2015 | Urvashi Rautela | Aditi Arya | Supriya Aiman | Aaital Khosla |
| 2014 | Noyonita Lodh Top 15 |
Koyal Rana Top 10 |
Jhataleka Malhotra | Alankrita Sahai |
| 2013 | Manasi Moghe Top 10 |
Navneet Dhillon Top 20 |
Gurleen Grewal | Sobhita Dhulipala |
| 2012 | Shilpa Singh Top 16 |
Vanya Mishra Top 7 |
Rochelle Rao Top 15 |
Prachi Mishra |
| 2011 | Vasuki Sunkavalli | Kanishtha Dhankhar Top 31 |
Ankita Shorey | Hasleen Kaur |
| 2010 | Ushoshi Sengupta | Manasvi Mamgai | Neha Hinge Top 15 |
Nicole Faria Miss Earth |
| 2009 | Ekta Chowdhary | Pooja Chopra Top 16 |
Harshita Saxena | Shriya Kishore Top 16 |
| 2008 | Simran Kaur Mundi | Parvathy Omanakuttan 1st Runner-Up |
Radha Brahmbhatt | Tanvi Vyas |
| 2007 | Puja Gupta Top 10 |
Sarah-Jane Dias | Esha Gupta | Pooja Chitgopekar Miss Earth – Air |
| 2006 | Neha Kapur Top 20 |
Natasha Suri Top 17 |
Sonnalli Seygall Top 12 |
Amruta Patki Miss Earth – Air |
| 2005 | Amrita Thapar | Sindhura Gadde Top 15 |
Vaishali Desai | Niharika Singh |
| 2004 | Tanushree Dutta Top 10 |
Sayali Bhagat | Mihika Verma Top 15 |
Jyoti Brahmin Top 16 |
| 2003 | Nikita Anand | Ami Vashi Top 5 |
Shonali Nagrani 1st Runner-Up |
Shweta Vijay |
| 2002 | Neha Dhupia Top 10 |
Shruti Sharma Top 20 |
Gauahar Khan | Reshmi Ghosh |
| 2001 | Celina Jaitley 4th Runner-Up |
Sara Corner | Kanwal Toor Top 15 |
Shamita Singha Top 10 |
| 2000 | Lara Dutta Miss Universe |
Priyanka Chopra Miss World |
Gayatri Joshi Top 15 |
↑ No Pageant Held (established in 2001 in Manila, Philippines) |
| 1999 | Gul Panag Top 10 |
Yukta Mookhey Miss World |
Srikrupa Murali | |
| 1998 | Lymaraina D'Souza Top 10 |
Annie Thomas | Shwetha Jaishanker 2nd Runner-Up | |
| 1997 | Nafisa Joseph Top 10 |
Diana Hayden Miss World |
Diya Abraham 1st Runner-Up | |
| 1996 | Sandhya Chib Top 10 |
Rani Jeyraj Top 5 |
Fleur Xavier | |
| 1995 | Manpreet Brar 1st Runner-Up |
Preeti Mankotia | Priya Gill | |
| 1994 | Sushmita Sen Miss Universe |
Aishwarya Rai Miss World |
Fransesca Hart | |
| 1993 | Namrata Shirodkar Top 6 |
Karminder Kaur-Virk | Pooja Batra Top 15 | |
| 1992 | Madhu Sapre 2nd Runner-Up |
Shyla Lopez | Kamal Sandhu | |
| 1991 | Christabelle Howie | Ritu Singh Top 10 |
Preeti Mankotia Top 15 | |
| 1990 | Suzanne Sablok Top 10 |
Naveeda Mehdi | × | |
| 1989 | Dolly Minhas | × | × | |
| 1988 | × | Anuradha Kottur | Shikha Swaroop | |
| 1987 | Priyadarshini Pradhan | Manisha Kohli | Erika Maria de Souza Top 15 | |
| 1986 | Mehr Jessia | Maureen Lestourgeon | Poonam Gidwant | |
| 1985 | Sonu Walia | Sharon Clarke | Vinita Vasan | |
| 1984 | Juhi Chawla | Suchita Kumar | Nalanda Bhandar Top 15 | |
| 1983 | Rekha Hande | Sweety Grewal | Sahila Chadha | |
| 1982 | Pamela Chaudry Singh | Uttara Mhatre Kher | Betty O'Connor | |
| 1981 | Rachita Kumar | Deepti Divakar | Meenakshi Seshadri | |
| 1980 | Sangeeta Bijlani | Elizabeth Anita Reddi Top 15 |
Ulrika Bredemeyer | |
| 1979 | Swaroop Sampat | Raina Mendonica | Nita Pinto | |
| 1978 | Alamjeet Kaur Chauhan | Kalpana Iyer Top 15 |
Sabita Dhanrajgir | |
| 1977 | Bineeta Bose | × | Joan Stephens | |
| 1976 | Naina Balsavar | × | Nafisa Ali 2nd Runner-Up | |
| 1975 | Meenakshi Kurpad | Anjana Sood Top 15 |
Indira Bredemeyer 2nd Runner-Up | |
| 1974 | Shailini Dholakia Top 12 |
Kiran Dholakia | Leslie Hartnett | |
| 1973 | Farzana Habib Top 12 |
× | Lynette Williams | |
| 1972 | Roopa Satyan Top 12 |
Malathi Basappa 4th Runner-Up |
Indira Muthanna | |
| 1971 | Raj Gill | Prema Narayan | Samita Mukherjee | |
| 1970 | Veena Sajnani | Heather Faville Top 15 |
Patricia D'Souza Top 15 | |
| 1969 | Kavita Bhambhani | Adina Shellim | Wendy Vaz | |
| 1968 | Anjum Mumtaz Barg | Jane Coelho | Sumita Sen Top 15 | |
| 1967 | Nayyara Mirza | × | × | |
| 1966 | Yasmin Daji 3rd Runner-Up |
Reita Faria Miss World |
↑ No Pageant Held | |
| 1965 | Persis Khambatta | × | × | |
| 1964 | Meher Castelino Mistri | × | × | |
| 1963 | × | × | × | |
| 1962 | × | Ferial Karim Top 15 |
Sheila Chonkar | |
| 1961 | × | Veronica Torcato | Diana Valentine | |
| 1960 | × | Iona Pinto | Iona Pinto 1st Runner-Up | |
| 1959 | × | Fleur Ezekiel | ↑ No Pageant Held (established in 1960 in California, United States and then it was transferred in 1968 in Tokyo, Japan) | |
| 1958 | × | ↑ No Pageant Held (established in 1951 in England, United Kingdom. India sent their first delegate in 1959.) | ||
| 1957 | × | |||
| 1956 | × | |||
| 1955 | × | |||
| 1954 | × | |||
| 1953 | × | |||
| 1952 | Indrani Rehman | |||
| 1951 | ↑ No Pageant Held (established in 1952 in California, United States and then it was transferred in 1960 in Florida, United States) | |||
× Did not compete
↑ No pageant held
| Pageant | Placements | Best result |
|---|---|---|
| Miss Universe | 28 | Winner  (1994 • 2000 • 2021)
|
| Miss World | 29 | Winner (1966 • 1994 • 1997 • 1999 • 2000 • 2017)
|
| Miss International | 18 | 1st Runner-Up (1960 • 1997 • 2003) |
| Miss Earth | 7 | Winner (2010)
|
| Total | 82 | 10 Titles |
Hostings
| Year | pageant | Location | Venue | Contestants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Miss World | Bangalore, Karnataka | M. Chinnaswamy Stadium | 88 |
| 2023 | Mumbai, Maharashtra | Jio World Convention Center | 112 |
List of crossovers
Crossover winners of a national pageant wins in another major national pageant and then participate in the line of international beauty pageants.
- Iona Pinto – Delegate of India by winning Miss India in 1960. She then participated in Miss International 1960, where she was the first-runner up. Her country sent her again for Miss World 1960 where she was one of the eighteen semifinalists.
- Preeti Mankotia – Delegate of India by winning Miss India in 1991. She then participated in Miss International 1991, where she was one of the fifteen finalist. She again participated in Femina Miss India 1995 where she was crowned as Miss India World and participated in Miss World 1995 where she was unable to place.
See also
- I Am She–Miss Universe India, a former pageant in India that sent its winner to Miss Universe from 2010 and 2012
- Bharat Sundari, a former pageant in India that sent its winner to Miss World from 1968 to 1975.
References
- ^ AFP (2017-11-19). "Manushi Chhillar's Miss World win draws India level with Venezuela with 6 titles". Livemint. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
- ^ "Video of Manushi Chillar's meeting Sushmita Sen goes viral". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
- ^ News, Times Now (17 November 2017). "This answer got Aishwarya Rai Bachchan the Miss World crown". Times Now. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
{{cite news}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ "This touching answer by Manushi Chhillar ensured that Miss World 2017 crown was hers". Oneindia. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
- ^ "ABC's 'Nightline' mistakes Priyanka Chopra with Yukta Mookhey, furnishes apology on Twitter". The Indian Express. 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
- ^ "Beauty Queens, Then and Now: How Different Aishwarya, Sushmita, Priyanka Look". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
- ^ DNA, Chaya Unnikrishnan. "Lara Dutta: after Priyanka Chopra, Dia Mirza and me there have been no international pageant winners". Retrieved 2017-12-11.
- ^ Hindustan Times, Correspondent (1 December 2017). "Sushmita Sen bumped into Manushi Chhillar on a flight. Here's how the beauty queens bonded". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
{{cite news}}:|first=has generic name (help) - ^ "Miss India Nicole Faria is the new Miss Earth - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
External links
- Femina Miss India official website Archived 2013-05-15 at the Wayback Machine