Contai popularly known as Kanthi is a coastal and subdivisional city and a municipality in Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal, India.

The name Contai may thus be an English expression of the local jargon meaning "sand heaps".

Yogesh Chandra Sarkar thinks that the name Kanthi owes its origin to outstretched sand-dune, about 27 miles from Rasulpur estuary to Peeplipattan, that from the sea looked like a long wall or Kanth (কাঁথি) as it is called by local people.

Some suggest that the name may originate from the custom of local people to build long walls or Kanths around their habitation in order to keep off wild beasts like buffaloes, tigers and rhinoceroses that were found in abundance then and these Kanths gave the place its name.

They say on the sand dunes lived Saints and Fakirs or witch doctors to whom afflicted people often came for cure and who asked them affectionately in somewhat Hindi, "Kanha thee?"

[4] Contai was later a part of the Hijli Kingdom, a tributary state of Orissa ruled by the Hindu king Gopinath Pattanayak.

The Sub-Division that covered 912 square miles (2,400 km2) was the second largest in Bengal .In 1863 when Nimak Mahal (the salt factory and business center) at Contai, in the teeth of a serious crisis, ceased functioning, the Sub-Divisional office was shifted from Negua to the abandoned Nimak Mahal building.

[6][7] Bankim Chandra Chottopadhyay, the precursor of Bengali novel, worked as the Deputy Magistrate of Contai, though for a short period, from January 1860 to November of the year.

Cashew processing industry is mainly practised in the areas in and around Majna, a village 5 km off Contai town.

The land is highly fertile and therefore, agriculture is also the major driving force that sustains the middle-class economy of this region.

However, sometimes agriculture is affected by frequent floods due to torrential monsoon rains and cyclones formed from depressions in the Bay of Bengal.

Popular tourist attractions like Digha, Mandarmani, Junput, Tajpur, Sankarpur are near the area of Contai Subdivision.

[citation needed] Contai is well connected by roads/highways with other nearby cities and towns and several important junctions like, Digha, Dantan, Jhargram, Kharagpur, Midnapore, Tamluk, Haldia, Howrah and Kolkata.

Contai is directly connected by rail to Asansol, Malda Town and Siliguri of West Bengal, Puri of Odisha and Vishakapatnam of Andhra Pradesh.

For local transportation, bus, mini-bus, taxi and much eco-friendly options like toto, autos and cycle rickshaws are available.

The NH-116B from Nandakumar to Digha which passes through Contai was scheduled to get converted to dual road within 2020 thus enabling swifter trade, commerce and tourism.

Many people from Contai and neighbouring subdivisions take part in "Gandhi Mela" not only for amusement but also for agricultural and industrial exhibitions.

Baishakhi mela is another popular fair organised recently by the Contai Nandanik Club.