Pinarayi is a census town in Kannur district in the Indian state of Kerala.
The village is surrounded by rivers on three sides, and the remaining boundaries consist of five panchayats: Kadirur, Dharmadom, Peralasseri, Vengad, Kottayam and Eranholi.
In the 1920s peasant and teachers organizations were strong in this village and there was widespread support for the freedom movement.
As a part of the independence struggle, a boycott of foreign clothes was conducted in 1930, its leaders being AKG, AK Sankaran Nambiar, Kacherikkandi Chathukkutty and Thattari Kunhiraman.
Pinarayi is considered as a CPI(M) bastion after the division of CPI in 1964, and the first meeting of the Communist party of India was held at a place called Paraparam in Pinarayi and communist party formally constituted in this meeting.
On 10 June 1977 a high school was inaugurated at Pinarayi in the memory of the communist leader AKG.
A computer training facility is offered by the Pinarayi Electronics Industrial co-operative society (PELISO).
These societies are providing service in almost every aspect of life like banking, education, printing, milk and public distributions, garments manufacturing, hotels, health care, recreations, markets and stores, manufacturing, Information Technology etc.
Pole casting unit in Pinarayi Industrial co-operative society manufactures 7m, 8m and 9m pre stressed concrete poles and supplies to Kerala State Electricity Board for using in the construction of distribution lines.
Its grama sabha meetings registered a consistently high attendance, its 121 neighborhood committees have been active, it has achieved a 100 per cent revenue and tax collection record, and its utilization of plan funds - especially those in the productive sector - has been outstanding.
It has been particularly successful in the implementation of its total sanitation programme whereby 2,500 houses have been provided with private latrines.
Pinarayi census town spreads over an area of 9.63 km2 (3.72 sq mi) with 3,922 families residing in it.