The first Miss Universe was held in 1952 at Long Beach, California, USA and India sent a representative in Indrani Rahman who failed to place.
The next time India sent a representative was 14 years hence in 1964 and since then India has always sent a representative except in the year 1988.
Between 1952 and 2022, there have been 71 Miss Universe contests and India has sent a total of 59 representatives out of which she has 26 placements – a strike rate of 44%.
Out of the 26 placements, India has 9 finalists – in the years 1966, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2020 and 2021. Out of those 7 finalists, India has 3 winners – in the years 1994, 2000 and 2020.
Below is a brief of the 9 Indian finalists (including the 3 winners) at Miss Universe.
Yasmin Daji – Top 5 Miss Universe 1966
Madhu Sapre – 2nd Runner-Up Miss Universe 1992
Namrata Shirodkar – Top 5 Miss Universe 1993
Sushmita Sen – Miss Universe 1994
Manpreet Brar – 1st Runner-Up Miss Universe 1995
Lara Dutta – Miss Universe 2000
Celina Jaitley – Top 5 Miss Universe 2001
Adline Castelino – Top 5 Miss Universe 2020
Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu – Miss Universe 2021
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