Miss India are the winners of the Miss India beauty pageant held annually. Starting from 1964, the pageant has been held by the Femina magazine, and is referred to as Femina Miss India. Prior to 1964, Miss India was selected by Eve's weekly in 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962. In 1947 and 1952, the winners were chosen by the Indian press.
Miss India has been participating in the Miss Universe pageant since 1952, starting with Indrani Rehman; and in the Miss World pageant since 1959, starting with Fleur Ezekiel. After the Femina Miss India pageant was established, the practice was to send the winner to the Miss Universe pageant and the runner-up to the Miss World contest. Usually a second-runner up or an independent pageant winner would be sent to international pageants like Miss Asia, Miss International and Miss Asia-Pacific. Starting from 2002, the titles of the winners and runners-up were changed to indicate their representations to the different international pageants. The winner was called Miss India Universe. The runners-up Miss India World, Miss India Asia-Pacific. As of 2002, the third winner would no longer be sent to Miss Asia-Pacific, but to Miss Earth, for the reasoning that the latter is strongly becoming the third most important international pageant after Miss Universe and Miss World.
The year 1994 was a landmark year for the pageant industry in India when both the Miss Universe and Miss World contests were won by Miss Indias Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai respectively. Owing to excessive media publicity the winners became household names in India and boosted the beauty industry. Coaching institutions were set up to groom girls in pageant participation skills. The number of participants in the preliminary rounds of the pageant has increased considerably. Pageant winners are also groomed for months in preparation for the international contest.
In 2000 all the Miss India winners happened to win their respective international pageants - Lara Dutta (Miss Universe), Priyanka Chopra (Miss World) and Diya Mirza (Miss Asia-Pacific).
Here is a list of women who have won the Miss India title. The names of those who have won the competition at the international level (Miss Universe, Miss World, etc.) are mentioned in bold.
2004:
2003:
- Miss India Universe - Nikita Anand
- Miss India World - Ami Vashi, later third runner-up Miss World
- Miss India Earth - Swetha Vijay
- Miss India Asia-Pacific - Shonal Rawat, later first runner-up Miss Asia Pacific, 2003
2002:
- Miss India Universe - Neha Dhupia, later ninth at Miss Universe
- Miss India World - Shruti Sharma
- Miss India Earth - Reshmi Ghosh
- Miss India Asia-Pacific - Tina Chatwal, later second runner-up Miss Asia Pacific, 2002
2001:
- Miss India - Celina Jaitley, later fourth runner-up at Miss Universe
- Miss India first runner-up - Sara Corner
- Miss India second runner-up - Maheshwari Thyagrajan
- Miss India semi-finalist - Shamita Singha, later fifth place at Miss Earth (first contestant from India ever to compete)
2000:
1999:
1998:
- Miss India - Lymaraina D'souza, later seventh place at Miss Universe
- Miss India first runner-up - Annie Thomas
- Miss India second runner-up - Vitika Aggarwal
1997:
1996:
- Miss India - Sandhya Chib, later seventh (or eighth) place at Miss Universe, 1996
- Miss India first runner-up - Rani Jeyraj, later third runner-up Miss World, 1995
- Miss India second runner-up - Mini Menon
1995:
- Miss India - Manpreet Brar, later runner-up Miss Universe
- Miss India first runner-up - Preeti Mankotia
1994:
1993:
1992:
- Miss India - Madhu Sapre
- Miss India first runner-up - Shyla Lopez
1991:
- Miss India first runner-up - Ritu Singh, later eighth Place Miss World, second runner-up Miss Asia World
- Miss India second runner-up - Preeti Mankotia, later semi-finalist at Miss International
1990:
- Miss India - Suzanne Sablok, later semi-finalist Miss World
- Miss India first runner-up - Naveeda Mehdi
1989: none
1988:
- Miss India - Dolly Minhas
- Miss India first runner-up - Anuradha Kottoor
1987:
- Miss India - Priyadarshini Pradhan
- Miss India first runner-up - Manisha Kohli
1986:
- Miss India - Mehr Jessia
- Miss India first runner-up - Maureen Lestourgen
1985:
- Miss India - Sonu Walia
- Miss India first runner-up - Sharon Clarke
1984:
- Miss India - Juhi Chawla
- Miss India first runner-up - Suchita Kumar
1983:
- Miss India - Rekha Hande
- Miss India first runner-up - Sweety Grewal
1982:
- Miss India - Pamela Singh
- Miss India first runner-up - Uttara Mhatre
1981:
- Miss India - Ruchita Kumar, now known by the name Nandini Thackersey
- Miss India first runner-up - Deepti Divakar
1980:
- Miss India - Sangeeta Bijlani
- Miss India first runner-up - Elizabeth Anita Reddi, later 10th Place Miss World
- also Meenakshi Seshadri
1979:
- Miss India - Swaroop Sampat
- Miss India first runner-up - Raina Winifred Mendonica
1978:
- Miss India - Alamjeet Chauhan
- Miss India first runner-up - Kalpana Iyer, later 11th Place Miss World
1977:
- Miss India - Nalini Vishwanathan
- Miss India first runner-up - Veena Prakash, withdrew from the Miss World contest because of India's policy against apartheid
1976:
- Miss India first runner-up - Naina Balsaver, withdrew from the Miss World contest because of India's policy against apartheid
1975:
- Miss India - Meenakshi Kurpad
- Miss India first runner-up - Anjana Sood, later semi-finalist Miss World
1974:
- Miss India - Shailini Dholakia, later semi-finalist, Miss Universe, 1974
1973:
- Miss India - Farzana Habib, later semi-finalist Miss Universe
- Miss India first runner-up - none
1972:
- Miss India - Roopa Satyan, later semi-finalist Miss Universe
- Miss India first runner-up - Malathi Basappa, later fourth runner-up Miss World
1971:
- Miss India - Raj Gill
- Miss India first runner-up - Prema Narayan
1970:
- Miss India - Veena Sajnani
- Miss India first runner-up - Heather Faville, later semi-finalist Miss World
1969:
- Miss India - Kavita Bhambani
- Miss India first runner-up - Adina Shellim
1968:
- Miss India - Anjum Mumtaz Barg
- Miss India first runner-up - Jane Coelho
1967:
- Miss India - Nayyara Mirza, now known by the name Nalini Patel
- Miss India first runner-up - none
1966:
1965: Persis Khambatta
1964: Meher Mistry, later known as Meher Castelino
1962: Ferial Karim, later semi-finalist Miss World
1961: Veronica Torcato
1960: Iona Pinto
1959: Fleur Ezekiel, first Miss India to participate in Miss World
1953: Peace Kanwal
1952:
1947: Pramila (or Esther Abraham)
Reference
- The Pride of India, a cofffe table book on former Miss Indias, by Persis Khambatta, Miss India 1965
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