Question

Explain the three types of movements or flows within international economic exchange. Find one example of each type of flow which involved India and Indians, and write a short account of it.

Answer 1

The three types of movements or flows within the international economic exchange are:

1. Flow of trade: The flow of trade refers to trade in goods. Before industrialization, fine cotton from India was sent to Europe. With industrialization, British cotton production began to grow, and industrialists pressured the government to restrict cotton imports and preserve domestic industries. The government imposed duties on fabric imports into the UK. As a result, the inflow of fine Indian cotton began to decline.
2. Flow of labour: This includes the movement of people in search of work. In the nineteenth century, hundreds of thousands of Indian labourers worked on plantations, mines, and road and railway construction projects all over the world. In India, indentured workers were engaged on a contract that guaranteed them a return trip to India after working on their employer’s plantation for five years. The Caribbean islands (namely Trinidad, Guyana, and Surinam), Mauritius, and Fiji were the primary destinations for Indian indentured immigration. The majority of these indentured labourers migrated in the hope of a better future or to escape poverty or oppression in their home village, but they were exploited by both the recruiting agent and the employer.
3. Flow of capital: This includes the movement of funds for short- or long-term investment over great distances. The Shikaripuri Shroffs and Nattukottai Chettiars were two of several groups of Indian bankers and traders who supported export agriculture in Central and Southeast Asia. They used their own finances or borrowed from European banks to do this. They had a sophisticated method for transferring money over long distances and even formed their own types of business organization.