The economic wealth of the Indus people is well reflected in the large number of weights and measures that have been found in the excavations carried out at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. The Indus Valley appears to have been a great trading centre, out of which both internal and external trade were carried on. For their internal trade, they seem to haveused land routes and bullock carts and for their external trade boats and sea routes.

Maritime trade appears to have played a major role in the IVC. There are archaeological records of their trade with Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Gulf countries and Iran. Harappan sites in Gujarat were developed mainly to carry out trade activities with West Asian countries.

The wide and long Indus River was used to carry material in and out of the major inland towns. Textiles, food items, copper and bronze, tin, wood like teak, deodar, rosewood, tamarind and bamboo, pigments, gold ivory, shells, pearls and many other items were traded.