KAIRA, a town and district of British India, in the northern division of Bombay. The town is 20 M. S.W. of Ahmedabad and 7 m. from Mehmadabad railway station. Pop. (1931), 8,316. Its antiquity is proved by the evidence of copperplate grants to have been known as early as the 5th century. Early in the 18th century it passed to the Babi family, with whom it remained till 1763, when it was taken by the Mahrattas ; it was finally handed over to the British in 1803.
The DISTRICT OF KAIRA has an area of 1,608 sq.m. ; pop. (1931), 741,650. Except a small corner of hilly ground near its northern boundary and in the south-east and south, where the land along the Mahi is furrowed into deep ravines, the district forms one un broken plain, sloping gently towards the south-west. The north and north-east portions are dotted with patches of rich rice-land, broken by untilled tracts of low brushwood. The centre of the district is very fertile and highly cultivated, with clusters of trees.
To the west this belt of rich vegetation passes into a bare though well-cultivated tract of rice-land, growing more barren and open till it reaches the maritime belt, along the Gulf of Cambay. Ante lope, gazelle and many game-birds are common. The chief rivers are the Mahi on the south-east and south, and the Sabarmati on the western boundary. The Mahi, owing to its deeply cut bed and sandbanks, is impracticable for either navigation or irrigation; but the waters of the Sabarmati are largely utilized for the latter purpose, as are those of a smaller stream, the Khari. The principal crops are cotton, millets, rice and pulse ; the industries are cotton, Printing, dyeing and glass manufacture. Bauxite is worked. The chief centre of trade is Nadiad, on the railway, with a cotton-mill and leather works. A special article of export is ghi, or clarified butter. The Bombay and Baroda railway runs through the district.