Chennai, formaly known as Madras is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is India's fourth largest metropolitan city. Chennai is the third largest commercial and industrial centre in India, and is known for its cultural heritage and temple architecture. It is also a hub for south Indian classical music and dance performances. Chennai is considered the automobile capital of India. Chennai is located at 13.04° N 80.17° E on the southeast coast of India and in the northeast corner of Tamil Nadu. It is located on a flat coastal plain known as the Eastern Coastal Plains.

Chennai has a diversified economic base anchored by the automobile, software services, hardware manufacturing and financial services. Other important industries include petrochemicals, textiles and apparels. The Chennai Port and Ennore Port contribute greatly to its importance. The city has a fully computerised stock exchange called the Madras Stock Exchange. Chennai has the fourth largest Gross Metropolitan Product in India. More recently, More recently, Chennai has emerged as an electronic manufacturing hub with multinational corporations like: Dell, Nokia, Motorola, Cisco, Samsung, Siemens, Sony-Ericsson, Flextronics and Foxconn setting up Electronics / Hardware manufacturing plants, particularly in the Sriperumbudur Special Economic Zone (SEZ) . Ericsson and Alcatel have research and development facilities in the city while Texas Instruments' R&D facility is in the pipeline.

Semiconductor companies like SPEL and Tessolve have announced plans to set up or expand manufacturing and R&D centers in the city. The city has two main biotechnology parks, TICEL bio-tech park and Golden Jubilee bio-tech park at Siruseri that house biotechnology companies and laboratories.
Chennai is also known for the classical Indian dance, Bharatanatyam, which is also the official dance of Tamil Nadu. An important cultural centre for Bharatanatyam is Kalakshetra (Sanskrit for "place of the arts"), located on the beach in the south of the city. In Chennai lives and works also Padmini Chetttur, who is one of the most important representatives for contemporary dance in India.Chennai has a vibrant theatre scene, with a large number of Tamil plays being performed. In general, Tamil theatre is divided into the sabha-oriented theatre which are parodies on political issues or trends supported by slapstick comedy and the non-sabha oriented theatre which include serious plays and historical plays. English theatre is also popular. School and college cultural festivals (locally called culfests) play an important role by providing platforms for the city's youth to indulge in art and culture. Also present is an established and growing culture of bands in western and other styles.

People living here celebrates a number of festivals. Pongal, celebrated in the month of January, is the most important festival of and is celebrated over a period of five days. Tamil New Year's day signifying the beginning of the Tamil Calendar usually falls on April 14 and is celebrated widely. Being a cosmopolitan city, almost all major religious festivals like: Thai Poosam, Deepavali, Eid and Christmas are celebrated here.
The University of Madras (estd. 1857), which has three campuses in the city, offers a range of programs in liberal arts, science and commerce. A large majority of city colleges are affiliated to the university and offer programs in medicine, law, science, Arts and commerce. Almost all colleges in Tamil Nadu that offer programs in engineering, technology and architecture are affiliated to Anna University. The remaining colleges are autonomous deemed universities.