Monica Gill from the USA wins Miss India Worldwide 2014

Miss India Worldwide Monica Gill with runners up Priya D’Silva and Cynferth Turrian.

This year’s Miss India Worldwide competition, which was held in Abu Dhabi on Friday night, saw Miss India USA Monica Gill walk away with the title.

Second place at the event in Al Raha Beach Resort went to Cynferth Turrian from Switzerland and third place to Priya D’Silva from Bahrain, with the pageant comprising rounds such as evening gown, ethnic, the talent contest and a QA section.

Monica was handed her crown by last year’s winner Nehal Bhogaita from Great Britain, who is profoundly deaf and was the first differently-abled contestant to triumph in the contest’s history.

There were 40 contestants of Indian origin in total, all aged between 18 and 27, while the judging panel consisted of Bollywood actress Neha Dhupia, cricketer Harbhajan Singh, actress Richa Chadda, actor Nikhil Dwivedi, fashion designer Rohit Verma, RJ Meghna from 101.6FM and Chairman for IFC, Dharmatma Singh.

Among the prizes Monica received were cash and sponsored gifts including photo sessions, modelling assignments and recommendations to the Bollywood industry.