Chennai remains the chief retail industry and shopping centre in South India, with some of its suburbs serving as exclusive shopping districts. Since the formation of the city in the seventeenth century, George Town remains one of the chief commercial neighbourhood of the city. However, with the centuries passing, the central business district of the city started shifting towards the south of Fort St. George and moving to its present location at Gemini Circle. The city's retail industry is concentrated chiefly in T. Nagar, which is by far the largest shopping district of India, generating more than twice the revenue of Connaught Place in New Delhi or Linking Road in Mumbai, even by conservative estimates.

Thyagaraya Nagar, commonly known as T. Nagar, and historically known as East Mambalam, is a very affluent commercial and residential neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is surrounded by Nungambakkam in the North, Teynampet in the East, Nandanam in the South-East, C.I.T. Nagar in the South and West Mambalam and Kodambakkam in the West. The stretch between Duraiswamy Road and T. Nagar Bus Stand has some of the costliest real estates in Chennai. It was constructed between 1923 and 1925 by the Madras Presidency government of the Raja of Panagal as a part of town planning activities initiated according to the Madras Town Planning Act of 1920. The town was named after P. Thyagaraya Chetty. The streets, parks and localities in the new neighbourhood were named after important officials in the provincial government.