Karaikudi is the largest city of Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

It is part of the area commonly referred to as Chettinad and has been declared a City Municipal Corporation by the Government of Tamil Nadu,[2][3] on account of the palatial houses built with limestone called Kaarai veedu.

[4] Karaikudi comes under the Karaikudi Assembly constituency, which elects a member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly once every five years, and it is a part of the Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency, which elects its member of parliament (MP) once in five years.

This metropolitan area consists of Karaikudi City Corporation which includes its neighbourhood towns of Kottaiyur, Koviloor, Kandanur, Puduvayal, and Sankarapuram (census town) and villages of Amaravathiputhur, Ariyakudi, Iluppakkudi, Managiri, Mathur, Peyampatti, Thiruvelangudi and Soorakudi.

It is one of the few towns and cities in List of AMRUT Smart cities in Tamil Nadu selected for AMRUT Schemes [6] from central government and the developmental activities are taken care by the government of Tamil Nadu.

The town was established in the 19th century, and the oldest known structure is the Koppudaiya Nayagi Amman Temple.

[12][13] Chettinad comprises a network of 73 villages and 2 towns forming clusters spread over a territory of 1,550 km2 in the districts of Sivagangai and Pudukottai in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Karaikudi and surrounding areas are very popular for their unique palaces, Chettinad Architecture based buildings and palatial mansions.

[15] As calculated for the town extension processes, the district administration office confirmed the population of Karaikudi is 303,291 in 2023.

[19] In Karaikudi, Hinduism is the majority religion with 83.9% of the total population, followed by Islam, 11.39%, Christianity, 4.3%, Jainism, 0.05%, Sikism, 0.01% and Others, the rest.

[26] The functions of the municipality are devolved into six departments: general administration/personnel, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, city planning and Information Technology (IT).

The current Member of Parliament from the constituency is Karti Chidambaram from the INC. Law and order in the city is maintained by the Sivaganga sub division of the Tamil Nadu Police headed by a Deputy Superintendent.

[32] Some prominent temples around the city are: -Div-III is serving people transportation services for Sivaganga and Ramnathapuram Districts.

Buses that connect the Karaikudi city, nearby villages and smaller towns terminate at the Old bus-stand.

Many educational institutions in the town benefited from donations made by the businessman and philanthropist Alagappa Chettiar, who attended Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Vidyalaya.

[53] Water supply is provided by the Karaikudi Municipality from seven borewells is located at Sambai Oothu (Artesian aquifer).