Marakkanam is a coastal panchayat town & Taluk in Viluppuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

It is well connected to the state capital Chennai and the nearby union territory of Puducherry by the East Coast Road.

On materialisation of National Waterways NW-4, Marakkanam will be connected to two states Andhra Pradesh (Kakinada) and Puducherry through north and south of Buckingham Canal.

It was constructed by the British Raj, and was an important waterway during the late nineteenth and the twentieth century.

Canal was formerly used to convey goods up and down, but later the usage has downgraded due to industrial pollution of water.