# Miss India Worldwide

Miss India Worldwide is a beauty pageant which draws contestants from India and from among members of the Indian diaspora residing in other countries. It is conducted by India Festival Committee (IFC), first founded and headed by Dharmatma Saran in New York City, USA.

## History

The pageant started in 1990. Simi Chaddha (now Dr. Simi Chaddha Ranajee), from the United States, was crowned the first ever Miss India Worldwide in New York City. Simi was the winner of the 1990 Miss India USA pageant. The pageant was held in the United States until 1996. In 1997, the pageant was hosted in India. Poonam Chibber of Canada became the first Miss India Worldwide winner to be crowned outside the United States. It was the first time that the pageant moved out of its home turf and was held in the Asian continent. The next year in 1998 the pageant moved to the southeast region of Asia and was held in Singapore. Once again, Canada's representative Melissa Bhagat was crowned the Miss India Worldwide 1998 by outgoing titleholder Poonam Chibber, giving Canada a rare back to back victory at the pageant. Canada is one of three countries to have a back to back victory, the other two being the USA and the UK.
The pageant moved back to the United States in 2000 and was held in Florida. Rita Upadhyay of the United States was crowned Miss India Worldwide 2000 and became the fourth woman from the United States to win the crown. Since 2012 international choreographer Sandip Soparrkar is the official show director and grooming expert.

## Notable Miss India Worldwide Participants

Past pageant participants include Bollywood actress Pallavi Sharda (Miss India Australia 2010), media personality and television host Amin Dhillon (Miss India Worldwide Canada 2010), and Indian television actress Uppekha Jain (Miss India Worldwide Canada 2008).

## Titleholders

| Year | Nation represented | Miss India Worldwide | National Title | City | Country | Notes |
| 1990 | United States | Simmi Chadha | Miss India USA | New York City | United States | |
| 1991 | United States | Bela Bajaria | Miss India USA | New York City | United States | Bajaria would go on to become an executive at Universal Television. |
| 1992 | United States | Icha Singh | Miss India USA | New York City | United States | |
| 1994 | India | Karminder Kaur Virk | Miss India Worldwide India | New York City | United States | The first of five wins for a Miss India Worldwide India titleholder. This was the first year in which Hong Kong sent a delegate to the worldwide pageant, Puja Venkataraman who was Miss India Hong Kong winner, which was held in New York City; local businessman Hari Harilela was one of the judges. |
| 1995 | Hong Kong | Nirupama Anand | Miss India Hong Kong | New York City | United States | First winner from Hong Kong. |
| 1996 | India | Sandhya Chib | Miss India Worldwide India | New York City | United States | Also became a semi-finalist in Miss Universe 1996 |
| 1997 | Canada | Poonam Chibber | Miss India Canada | Mumbai | India | The first win by a Miss India Worldwide Canada titleholder. Chibber would go on to become a Bollywood actress. |
| 1998 | Canada | Melissa Bhagat | Miss India Canada | Singapore | Singapore | Bhagat went on to work for the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada under Minister Jason Kenney. |
| 1999 | India | Aarti Chabria | Miss India Worldwide India | Rahway | United States | Third winner from India |
| 2000 | United States | Rita Upadhyay | Miss India USA | Tampa | United States | Held in November 2000. Upadhyay was age 23 and a New York-based staff writer for Time magazine then. |
| 2001 | South Africa | Sarika Sukhdeo | Miss India South Africa | San Jose | United States | Originally scheduled to be held in Durban, South Africa, it was later delayed until March 2002 and moved to San Jose, California. Nevertheless, Sarika Sukhdeo of Durban garnered the first win for a Miss India Worldwide South Africa titleholder after ten years of South African delegates to the worldwide pageant. |
| 2002 | United Arab Emirates | Santripti Vellody | Miss India UAE | Durban | South Africa | First winner from UAE. Held in November 2002 |
| 2003 | India | Purva Merchant | Miss India Worldwide India | San Francisco | United States | Held in September 2003 |
| 2005 | United Kingdom | Amrita Hunjan | Miss India UK | Mumbai | India | Held in February 2005; the fourteenth edition of the Miss India Worldwide pageant. |
| 2006 | United States | Trina Chakravarty | Miss India USA | Mumbai | India | |
| 2007 | Suriname | Fareisa Joemmanbaks | Miss India Suriname | Fords | United States | Held in April 2007. Joemmanbaks would later go on to a career in Mollywood. |
| 2008 | India | Shagun Sarabhai | Miss India South Africa | Johannesburg | South Africa | Held in February 2008. Prizes included $5,000 in cash, jewellery, clothing, and a notebook computer. |
| 2009 | United States | Nikkitasha Marwaha | Miss India USA | Durban | South Africa | Held in February 2009. Marwaha was age 20 and a drama student at the time. She went on to star in the Indian television series 24. |
| 2010 | South Africa | Kajal Lutchminarian | Miss India South Africa | Durban | South Africa | Held in March 2010. Lutchminarian was age 21 and a medical student at the time. |
| 2011 | Australia | Ankita Ghazan | Miss India Australia | Abu Dhabi | United Arab Emirates | Held in May 2011; the twentieth edition of the pageant. Ghazan was age 19 and a university student at the time. |
| 2012 | Guyana | Alana Seebarran | Miss India Guyana | Paramaribo | Suriname | Held in February 2012. Following her crowning, Seebarran had various conflicts with the organisers, and was not invited to the following year's pageant in Malaysia to crown the new winner. |
| 2013 | United Kingdom | Nehal Bhogaita | Miss India UK | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia | Held in May 2013. Bhogaita was the first deaf contestant in the pageant's history. |
| 2014 | United States | Monica Gill | Miss India USA | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | Held in June 2014. Prizes included $8,000 in cash, as well as photo assignments and modelling sessions. |
| 2015 | Oman | Stephanie Lohale | Miss India Oman | Mumbai | India | First winner from Oman. Pageant held in September 2015. |
| 2016 | United States | Karina Kohli | Miss India USA | New Jersey | United States | |
| 2017 | United States | Madhu Valli | Miss India USA | New Jersey | United States | Pageant held in October, 2017. Winner is a student of criminal law and a hip hop artist from USA. |
| 2018 | United States | Shree Saini | Miss India USA | Washington | United States | Pageant held in December, 2018. Shree is a pacemaker patient and a graduate from University of Washington, who studied at Harvard, Yale and Stanford. She won the "Best Titleholder" award from the pageant community for her endless service work with hundreds of charities. |
| 2019 | Oman | Tanishq Sharma | Miss India Oman | Mumbai | India | Pageant held in December, 2019. |
| 2022 | United Kingdom | Khushi Patel | Miss India UK | New Jersey | United States | Pageant held in June, 2022. |
| 2023 | Guyana | Aruna Sukhdeo | Miss India Guyana | Pune | India | Pageant held in June, 2023. |
| 2024 | United States | Dhruvi Patel | Miss India USA | New Jersey | United States | Pageant held in September, 2024. |