The three types of movements or flows within international economic exchange with examples of India and Indians are as follows:

• Flow of trade:The flow of trade refers to trade in goods. Before industrialization, fine cotton produced in India was exported to Europe. With industrialization, British cotton manufacture began to expand, and industrialists pressured the government to restrict cotton imports and protect local industries. The government imposed tariffs on cloth imports into Britain. As a consequence, the inflow of fine Indian cotton began to decline.
• Flow of labor:This includes migration of people in search of employment. In the nineteenth century, hundreds of thousands of Indian laborers went to work on plantations, in mines, and in road and railway construction projects around the world. In India, indentured laborers were hired at a contract which promised return travel to India after they had worked for five years on their employer’s plantation.

The Caribbean islands (mainly Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname], Mauritius, and Fiji were the main destinations of Indian indentured migrants. Most of these indentured laborers migrated in hope for a bright future or to escape poverty or oppression in their home village, but they were exploited by the recruiting agent and by the employer.

• The movement of capital : This includes the movement of capital for short term or long term investment over long distances. The Shikaripuri Shroffs and NattukottaiChettiars were amongst the many groups of Indian bankers and traders who financed export agriculture in Central and Southeast Asia. For this, they used either their own funds or borrowed from European banks. They had a sophisticated system to transfer money over large distances, and even developed indigenous forms of corporate organization.