Correct Answer : ports handling foreign trade
Note :
Both the coasts of India have been studded with a string of ports since the ancient time and involved in foreign trade.
During the Gupta era, the ports of the east coast, Tamralipti, Ghantashala, and Kadura handled the north-Indian trade with south-east Asia, and those of the west coast, Broach, Chaul, Kalyan and Cambray, traded with the Mediterranean and west Asia but the more southerly of these ports were outside Gupta control.
The export of spices, pepper, sandalwood, pearls, precious stones, perfumes, indigo, and herbs continued as before but the commodities that were imported differed from those of earlier times. Chinese silk came in greater quantity, as did ivory from Ethiopia. The import of horses, coming from Arabia, Iran, and Bactria, either overland to centres in the north-west or by sea to the west coast, increased during this period.
