Salcete ( Sāṣţī) is a taluka (a unit of administration) of South Goa District in the Indian state of Goa. Its administrative and economic headquarters is Margao. It is largely coterminous with a region called Sashti (साष्टी), which comprised, by local tradition, sixty-six villages, hence the name. However, Sashti also included the now separate taluka of Mormugao. There are six comunidades in Salcete namely—Raia, Margao, Loutolim, Curtorim, Verna, Colva, Betalbatim, Nuvem, and Benaulim. Salcete is bounded by Mormugao taluk to the northwest, Ponda taluk to the northeast and east, Quepem taluk to the east and south, and the Arabian Sea to the west.