The three types of movements or flows within the international economic exchange are trade flows, human capital flows and capital flows or investments. These can be explained as - the trade in agricultural products, migration of labour, and financial loans to and from other nations.

(i) The flow of trade (trade in goods, e.g. cloth or wheat): India was a hub of trade in the pre-modern world, and it exported textiles and spices in return for gold and silver from Europe. Fine cotton was produced in India and was exported to Europe. With industrialization, British cotton manufacture began to expand, and industrialists pressurized the government to restrict cotton imports and protect local industries. As a result of the tariffs that were imposed on cloth imports, the inflow of fine Indian Cotton began to decline.

(ii) The flow of labour (the migration of people in search of employment): In the field of labour, indentured labour was provided for mines, plantations and factories abroad, in huge numbers, in the nineteenth century. This was an instrument of colonial domination by the British. Indentured labourers were hired under contacts which promised return travel to India after they had worked five years on their employer’s plantation. The living conditions were harsh, and the labourers had little protection of the law or from it as they had little rights.

(iii) The movement of capital (investments) : Lastly, Britain took generous loans from the USA to finance the World War. Since India was an English colony, the impact of these loan debts was felt in India too. Food and other crops for the world market required capital. Large plantations could borrow it from banks and markets.