Gondia, or Gondiya is a city in the state of Maharashtra in Central India, and is the administrative headquarters of the Gondia District. Gondia is also known as Rice City due to the abundance of rice mills in the area. It is a very important city in the Vidarbha region. Gondia is very close to the state of Madhya Pradesh, and is considered the gateway to Maharashtra from Central and Eastern India. It has more than a thousand rice mills and some small scale tobacco industries.