In Pics: 2018 New Year celebrations in India and across the world

From New Zealand and Australia, the celebrations will move to Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and finally the Americas.

Fireworks lit up the sky over cities around the globe as new year celebrations kicked in with an extravagant display of lights and colour.

A milling crowd of people in India welcomed New Year 2018 as the clock struck midnight on Monday.

Celebratory events \were held at various hotels and restaurants across the country.

In New Zealand, tens of thousands of people took to the streets and beaches, becoming among the first in the world to usher in 2018.

Australia’s largest city Sydney welcomed 2018 with a rainbow-themed fireworks spectacle hailing the introduction of same-sex marriage in the country.

From Australia, the celebrations moved to Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and finally the Americas.

Here are the new year celebrations from across the world:

People dance during the New Year's celebrations on a beach in Mumbai. (Reuters)

People dance during the New Year's celebrations at a market area in New Delhi. (Reuters)

People at New Year’s celebrations in Pune. (Ravindra Joshi/HT Photo)

New Zealand welcomes New Year 2018 with five minutes of nonstop pyrotechnics exploding from the top of Auckland’s Sky Tower. A digital clock on the tower counted down the seconds to January 1, 2018. (ANI/Twitter)

Fireworks light up the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House during new year celebrations on Sydney Harbour, Australia, January 1, 2018. Sydney officials said the event would generate some $170 million for the city and “priceless publicity.” (REUTERS)

Fireworks light up the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House during new year celebrations on Sydney Harbour, Australia, January 1, 2018. Nearly half the revelers were tourists. (REUTERS)

Fireworks light up the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House during new year celebrations on Sydney Harbour, Australia, January 1, 2018. (REUTERS)

Fireworks light up the sky from building rooftops along the Yarra River during New Year 2018 celebrations in Melbourne early on January 1, 2018. (AFP)

People release balloons as they take part in a New Year countdown event in celebrations to ring in 2018 in Tokyo, Japan January 1, 2018. (REUTERS)

Fireworks light the sky over the Lotte World Tower, a 123-floor and 1821-foot (555 m) building, after midnight during a countdown event to celebrate the New Year in Seoul, South Korea on January 1, 2018. (AFP)

he New Year has officially begun in much of the world, with cities around the globe celebrating the start of 2018 beginning with the Pacific Ocean nations of Samoa, Tonga and Christmas Island/Kiribati.

The last places on Earth to see in the New Year are minor outlying US islands like Baker Island and Howland Island - although these are uninhabited. The last inhabited island is American Samoa which will welcome 2018 when it's 11am in London on January 1.

When major cities will welcome 2018