Femina Miss India facts for kids

Miss India or Femina Miss India is a big national beauty contest in India. Each year, it chooses young women to represent India in important global contests like Miss World. The contest is organized by Femina, a popular magazine for women published by The Times Group.

The current Femina Miss India World is Nandini Gupta from Rajasthan. She won her crown on April 15, 2023, in Imphal, Manipur. The previous winner, Sini Shetty, crowned her.

History of the Miss India Contest

Esther Abraham, who was the first Miss India in 1947.

The very first Miss India was Esther Abraham from Calcutta. She won the title in 1947. Local newspapers and groups organized this first contest.

Indrani Rehman after winning Miss India in 1952. She was the first Indian woman to compete in the Miss Universe contest in the USA.

In 1952, two Miss India contests were held. Indrani Rehman and Nutan were the winners. Indrani Rehman was crowned in Mumbai and later became the first Indian woman to take part in the Miss Universe contest.

In 1959, a magazine called Eve's Weekly started its own Miss India contest. They chose Fleur Ezekiel to represent India at Miss World 1959.

The first ever Femina Miss India contest happened in 1964. Meher Castelino Mistri from Maharashtra won this title.

Reita Faria made history by becoming the first Miss India to win a big international beauty contest. She was crowned Miss World 1966 in London.

Zeenat Aman was the first Femina Miss India winner to win an international pageant. She won Miss Asia Pacific in 1970.

Meenakshi Seshadri was the youngest person to win Miss India. She was only 17 in 1981. She later became a famous Bollywood actress.

A very special year was 1994. Sushmita Sen won Miss India and then became the first Indian to be crowned Miss Universe. In the same year, Aishwarya Rai, who was the first runner-up in Miss India, won Miss World.

The year 2000 was also amazing! Lara Dutta, Priyanka Chopra, and Dia Mirza all won major international titles. Lara Dutta won Miss Universe 2000, Priyanka Chopra won Miss World 2000, and Dia Mirza won Miss Asia Pacific International 2000. This was a huge achievement for India.

In 2010, Nicole Faria became the first Indian to win the Miss Earth title.

India in International Pageants

India has been sending representatives to the Miss Universe contest since 1952 and to the Miss World contest since 1959.

In 1991, Femina Miss India also started sending India's representatives to the Miss International contest.

From 2007 to 2009, Femina Miss India chose three winners. These winners went to Miss Universe, Miss World, and Miss Earth. In 2013, The Times Group started a new contest called Miss Diva. This contest now chooses India's representatives for Miss Universe. The winner of Femina Miss India now represents India at Miss World every year.

Indian Winners in Major International Pageants

India has had many winners in the "Big Four" international beauty pageants: Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International, and Miss Earth.

Indian Winners in Other International Pageants

India has also won many other international beauty pageants.

Multiple Wins in the Same Year

India has had years where it won multiple major international pageants!

Femina Miss India Winners (2013-Present)

This table shows the recent winners of the Femina Miss India contest.

Miss Diva Winners

Miss Diva is another contest by The Times Group. It chooses India's representatives for Miss Universe and Miss Supranational.

Mister India Contest

The Times Group also organizes the Mister India contest. This contest chooses representatives for male beauty pageants like Mister World and Mister Supranational.

Prateik Jain was the first Mister World India under The Times Group.

International Victories for Mister India

Rohit Khandelwal, Mister India World 2016 and Mister World 2016.

In 2016, Rohit Khandelwal became the first Indian and first Asian to win the Mister World contest.

In 2018, Prathamesh Maulingkar became the first Indian and first Asian to win the Mister Supranational contest. This means India is the only country to have won both the Miss Supranational and Mister Supranational titles!

International Titleholder Gallery

Miss Universe Winners

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  Harnaaz Sandhu, Miss Universe 2021

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  Lara Dutta, Miss Universe 2000 and
  Miss Intercontinental 1997

Miss World Winners

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  Manushi Chhillar, Miss World 2017

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  Priyanka Chopra, Miss World 2000

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  Yukta Mookhey, Miss World 1999

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  Diana Hayden, Miss World 1997

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  Aishwarya Rai, Miss World 1994

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  Reita Faria, Miss World 1966

Miss Supranational Winners

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  Srinidhi Shetty,
  Miss Supranational 2016

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  Asha Bhat,
  Miss Supranational 2014

Miss Earth Winners

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  Nicole Faria, Miss Earth 2010

Mister India Winners

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  Rohit Khandelwal,
  Mister World 2016

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  Prathamesh Maulingkar,
  Mister Supranational 2018

Images for kids

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  Miss India 1952, Indrani Rehman with former Indian Congress leader S.K. Patil, and two of the sponsors of the Miss India contest of 1952

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  Miss India 1952 Contestants posing for the photographers at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Miss India 1952 winner, Indrani Rahman (third from left) and the Runner-up Suryakumari (sixth from left)

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  Pooja Chitgopekar, Femina Miss India Earth 2007 and Miss Earth Air 2007 during Miss Earth 2007

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  Femina Miss India 2008 (from left to right) Harshita Saxena (Resigned-Femina Miss India Earth 2008), Parvathy Omanakuttan (Femina Miss India World 2008) and Simran Kaur Mundi (Femina Miss India Universe 2008)

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  Celina Jaitley,
  Miss Universe 2001 - 4th Runner-up

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  Sangeeta Bijlani,
  Femina Miss India Universe 1980

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  Juhi Chawla,
  Femina Miss India Universe 1984

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  Sonu Walia,
  Femina Miss India Universe 1985

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  Mehr Jesia Rampal,
  Femina Miss India Universe 1986

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  Gul Panag,
  Femina Miss India 1999

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  Neha Dhupia,
  Femina Miss India Universe 2002

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  Tanushree Dutta,
  Femina Miss India Universe 2004

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  Puja Gupta,
  Femina Miss India Universe 2007

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  Simran Kaur Mundi,
  Femina Miss India Universe 2008

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  Parvathy Omanakuttan,
  Miss World 2008 - 1st Runner-up

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  Shruti Sharma,
  Femina Miss India World 2002

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  Sayali Bhagat,
  Femina Miss India World 2004

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  Natasha Suri,
  Femina Miss India World 2006

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  Sarah-Jane Dias,
  Femina Miss India world 2007

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  Manasvi Mamgai,
  Femina Miss India world 2010,
  Miss Tourism International 2008

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  Navneet Kaur Dhillon,
  Femina Miss India World 2013

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  Aditi Arya,
  Femina Miss India World 2015

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  Anukreethy Vas,
  Femina Miss India World 2018

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  Amruta Patki,
  Miss Earth Air 2006

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  Shamita Singha,
  Femina Miss India Earth 2001

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  Niharika Singh,
  Femina Miss India Earth 2005

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  Sobhita Dhulipala,
  Femina Miss India Earth 2013

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  Shonali Nagrani,
  Miss International 2003 - 1st Runner-up

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  Pooja Batra,
  Femina Miss India International 1993

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  Gauahar Khan,
  Femina Miss India International 2002

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  Vaishali Desai,
  Femina Miss India International 2005

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  Esha Gupta,
  Femina Miss India International 2007

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  Neha Hinge,
  Femina Miss India International 2010

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  Rochelle Rao,
  Femina Miss India International 2012

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  Meenakshi Chaudhary,
  Miss Grand International 2018 - 1st Runner-up

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  Vartika Singh,
  Miss Grand International 2015 - 2nd Runner-up

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  Anukriti Gusain,
  Miss Grand India 2017

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  Shweta Menon,
  Femina Miss India Asia Pacific 1994

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  Vishnu Raj Menon,
  Mister India World 2017

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  Manasvi Mamgai, Miss Tourism International 2009

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  Priyanka Shah, Miss Tourism 2007

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  Sonal Chauhan, Miss Tourism 2005

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  Dia Mirza, Miss Asia Pacific 2000

See also

• All pages beginning with "Femina Miss"
• Miss Transqueen India
• Miss India Worldwide India
• List of beauty pageants