State of southeast India, bounded on the north by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, on the west by Kerala, and on the east and south by the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean; area 130,069 sq km/50,220 sq mi; population (2001 est) 62,110,800. The capital is
Chennai (formerly Madras). There are cotton, leather, sugar-refining, oil-refining, and road and railway vehicle manufacturing industries. Tea, coffee, spices, sugar cane, and coconuts are grown, and there is a major fishing industry.
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