Miss Universe India 2024 Explained

Date:	22 September 2024
Venue:	Zee Studios, Jaipur, India
Broadcaster:	Zee TV
Entrants:	51
Placements:	20
Winner:	Rhea Singha
Represented:	Gujarat
Congeniality:	Saanvi Sharma Uttar Pradesh
Before:	2023
Next:	2025

Miss Universe India 2024 was the inaugural edition of the Miss Universe India pageant, held at the Zee Studios in Jaipur, India, on September 22, 2024. The pageant is held under the Glamanand Group, with Nikhil Anand as the National Director.^[1]

At the end of the event, Rhea Singha was crowned as Miss Universe India 2024 by Urvashi Rautela, Miss Universe India 2015. She will represent India at the Miss Universe 2024 to be held in Mexico on November 16, 2024.^[2] ^[3]

The Miss Universe India 2024 pageant was held from September 9th to 22nd, with the grand finale took place in Zee Studios, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Filipino actor and model, Lance Raymundo and Ngô Ngọc Gia Hân, winner of Miss Teen International 2022 hosted the coronation ceremony, which was aired live on the official YouTube channel of Miss Universe.^[4]

Results

Placements

Placement	Contestant	International Placement
Miss Universe India 2024	MUI. #36 – Rhea Singha
1st Runner-Up	MUI. #34 – Pranjal Priya
2nd Runner-Up	MUI. #16 – Chhavi Verg
3rd Runner-Up	MUI. #47 – Sushmita Roy
4th Runner-Up	MUI. #39 – Ruopfüzhano Whiso
Top 10	MUI. #06 – Anjum Malik MUI. #10 – Archana Bhavsar MUI. #17 – Daisy Khound MUI. #28 – Mrunmayee Taare ∆ MUI. #32 – Ojasvi Sharma
Top 20	MUI. #05 – Angel Bhathal MUI. #07 – Anubha Vashist Chaudhary MUI. #14 – Chandana Jayaram MUI. #27 – Manika Vishwakarma MUI. #33 – Prakshi Goel MUI. #37 – Roneihpuii § MUI. #41 – Saanvi Sharma MUI. #42 – Sanjana Vij MUI. #49 – Tejaswini Shrivastava MUI. #51 – Wachi Pareek

Special Awards

Award	Contestant
Beauty with a Purpose	MUI. #28 – Mrunmayee Taare
Best in Evening Gown	MUI. #07 – Anubha Vashist Chaudhary
Best in Personal Interview	MUI. #38 – Roosh Sindhu
Best in Swimsuit	MUI. #34 – Pranjal Priya
Best National Costume	MUI. #16 – Chhavi Verg
Best National Costume	MUI. #18 – Danube Kangjam
Best State Director	Hemamalini Rajinikanth – Tamil Nadu
Miss Beautiful Skin	MUI. #38 – Roosh Sindhu
Miss Congeniality	MUI. #41 – Saanvi Sharma
Miss Fashion Icon	MUI. #22 – Kanak Agnihotri
Miss Photogenic	MUI. #21 – Kajal Choudhary
Miss Popular	MUI. #37 – Roneihpuii
MyGlamm Miss Glamorous	MUI. #36 – Rhea Singha

Head-to-Head Challenge

The contestants were officially assigned to their grouping via Miss Universe India social media handles on 18 September 2024.

Winner of the Head-to-Head Challenge.

Group	Delegate 1	Delegate 2	Delegate 3
1	Kopal Mandloi	Manika Suthar	Shivali Patel
2	Guneet Kaur Saini	Rhea Singha	Shatakshi Kiran
3	Avani Kakekochhi	Lakshita Thilagaraj	Saanvi Sharma
4	Amelia Reddy	Chayanika Debnath	Saachi Gurav
5	Khushi Verma	Rashalika Sabharwal	Tanu Shree
6	Anamika Borah	Daisy Khound	Janvi Soni
7	Bhuvaneshwari Vishwanath	Sanjana Vij	Thupten Lhamu
8	Anjum Malik	Chhavi Verg	Sushmita Roy
9	Archana Bhavsar	Navya Singh	Roosh Sindhu
10	Aishwarya Pansare	Niharika Sood	Prakshi Goyal
11	Ananya Saxena	Angel Bhathal	Anubha Vashisth
12	Aqsa Varghese	Kajal Choudhary	Mrunmayee Tare
13	Kanak Agnihotri	Ruopfüzhano Whiso	Tejaswini Shrivastava
14	Ojasvi Sharma	Roneihpuii	Sonia Pradhan
15	Bahun Nongrum	Chandana Jayaram	Wachi Pareek
16	Anushka Dutta	Larissa D'Souza	Pranjal Priya
17	Danube Kangjam	Namitha Marimuthu	Shaine Soni

Best Rampwalk

Result	Name
Winner	Pranjal Priya
Top 5	Anamika Borah Daisy Khound Ojasvi Sharma Wachi Pareek

Best in Speech

Result	Name
Winner	Saanvi Sharma
Top 5	Angel Bhathal Daisy Khound Manika Suthar Saachi Gurav

Best in Talent

Result	Name
Winner
Top 5	Avani Kakekochhi Chayanika Debnath Chhavi Verg Navya Singh Tejaswini Shrivastava

Background

Schedule

The Miss Universe India organization officially unveiled the competition schedule for the Miss Universe India 2024 pageant on September 1, 2024 via its official social media handles. The event will commence on September 9 and culminate in a grand finale on September 22. The National Costume and Preliminary rounds are slated for 20 September 2024.

Selection of participants

In early May, National Director Nikhil Anand announced on social media that contestants would be selected from each Indian state. Prominent figures from the business world and many beauty queens acquired franchises for various states.^[5] ^[6] ^[7] ^[8]

Applications for contestants at the Miss Universe state level subsequently opened. Each state will independently conduct auditions, grooming sessions, styling sessions, training, and finalize their representative. The pageant announced that all women aged 18 and above will be eligible to compete. This reflected the Miss Universe organisation's changes to their eligibility criteria. Once all state representatives are announced, they will compete for the title of Miss Universe India at the grand finale, expected to be held in October 2024. Contestants from all Indian states and an Indian representative from the UAE will compete in the pageant.^[9] ^[10]

A final round of auditions for Miss Universe Delhi 2024 was held in New Delhi on August 17th. The event was open to all girls who had missed the online registration or failed to win their respective state competitions. Spot registrations were also accepted between 10 AM and 12 PM IST. The contestants underwent multiple rounds of interviews, with participants who had achieved runner-up or finalist titles at state-level pageants being particularly encouraged to audition. At the end of the day, Sanjana Vij was crowned Miss Universe Delhi 2024. Notably, she had previously been the first runner-up at the Miss Universe Telangana 2024 pageant. Additionally, the event marked the official announcement of Miss Universe India representatives for the states of Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Tripura. Several contestants were chosen as wildcard entries to advance to the national finals.

Replacements

Jammu and Kashmir: Priyanka Pandita, the former Miss Universe Jammu and Kashmir 2024, stepped down from her title due to work commitments. Aishwarya Pansare was subsequently crowned the new Miss Universe Jammu and Kashmir 2024.
Odisha: Allegations of favoritism marred the Miss Universe Odisha finale. Following an investigation into the questionable crowning of the original winner, the organization revoked her title and suspended the state's license. Janvi Soni was ultimately declared the rightful Miss Universe Odisha at the national audition on 17 August 2024.
Haryana: A pre-existing agency contract prevented Amishi Kaushik, the original Miss Universe Haryana 2024, from participating in the national pageant. As a result, the first runner-up, Prakshi Goyal, was selected to represent Haryana.

Withdrawals

Miss Universe Telangana 2024, Niharika Sood, announced her withdrawal from the competition on September 20th due to contractual obligations.^[11]
Miss Universe Jammu and Kashmir 2024, Aishwarya Pansare, withdrew from the competition on the day before the finals, citing undisclosed reasons.

Selection Committee

Coronation Day

Nikhil Anand – National director of Miss Universe India
Nguyễn Như Quỳnh – CEO of Miss Tourism World Vietnam
Rajiv K Shrivastava – Founder of Act Now Organisation
Rian Fernandez Atelier – Filipino fashion designer
Urvashi Rautela – Actress and Miss Universe India 2015

Preliminary Competition

Nikhil Anand – National director of Miss Universe India
Simran Sharma – Miss Grand India 2020
Sophiya Singh – Miss Asia Pacific International India 2024

Contestants

The Miss Universe India 2024 pageant features 51 contestants: 31 state representatives, 14 wildcard entries, and 6 NRI delegates.

No.	Delegate	Age	State/Territory/Country	Audition Category	Ref.
1	~~Aishwarya Pansare~~		~~Jammu and Kashmir~~	State
2	Amelia Reddy	23	North Carolina	NRI
3	Anamika Borah	22	Assam	State
4	Ananya Saxena	23	Uttarakhand	State
5	Angel Bhathal	38	Toronto	NRI
6	Anjum Malik	27	Goa	State
7	Anubha Vashist Chaudhary	27	Delhi	Wildcard
8	Anushka Dutta	22	Himachal Pradesh	State
9	Aqsa Varghese	24	Kerala	State
10	Archana Bhavsar	23	Mumbai	Wildcard
11	Avani Kakekochhi Bhat	24	Karnataka	State
12	Bahun Nongrum	26	Meghalaya	State
13	Bhuvaneshwari Vishwanath	25	Coimbatore	Wildcard
14	Chandana Jayaram	24	Andhra Pradesh	State	^[12]
15	Chayanika Debnath	29	Tripura	State
16	Chhavi Verg	27	New Jersey	NRI
17	Daisy Khound	23	Assam	Wildcard
18	Danube Kangjam	24	Manipur	State
19	Guneet Kaur Saini	25	Punjab	State
20	Janvi Soni	23	Odisha	State
21	Kajal Choudhary	22	Bihar	State
22	Kanak Agnihotri	25	Uttar Pradesh	State
23	Khushi Verma	18	New Delhi	Wildcard
24	Kopal Mandloi	25	Madhya Pradesh	State
25	Lakshitha Thilagaraj	20	Tamil Nadu	State
26	Larissa Dsouza	24	United Arab Emirates	NRI
27	Manika Vishwakarma	21	Rajasthan	State
28	Mrunmayee Taare	23	Thane	Wildcard
29	Namitha Marimuthu	35	Chennai	Wildcard
30	Navya Singh	34	Katihar	Wildcard
31	~~Niharika Sood~~	27	~~Telangana~~	State
32	Ojasvi Sharma	27	Delhi	Wildcard
33	Prakshi Goel	23	Haryana	State
34	Pranjal Priya	19	Maharashtra	State
35	Rashalika Sabharwal	29	Mumbai	Wildcard
36	Rhea Singha	19	Ahmedabad	Wildcard
37	Roneihpuii	23	Mizoram	State
38	Roosh Sindhu	24	Gujarat	State
39	Ruopfüzhano Whiso	25	Nagaland	State	^[13]
40	Saachi Gurav	22	Manchester	NRI
41	Saanvi Sharma	22	Uttar Pradesh	State
42	Sanjana Vij	29	Delhi	State
43	Shaine Soni	37	Delhi	Wildcard
44	Shatakshi Kiran	23	Jharkhand	State
45	Shivali Patel	27	Raleigh	NRI
46	Sonia Pradhan	20	Sikkim	State
47	Sushmita Roy	29	West Bengal	State	^[14]
48	Tanu Shree	26	Bihar	Wildcard
49	Tejaswini Shrivastava	22	Nagpur	Wildcard
50	Thupten Lhamu	23	Arunachal Pradesh	State	^[15]
51	Wachi Pareek	22	Chhattisgarh	State