- In most industrial regions, workers came from the districts around. Peasants and artisans who found no work in the village went to industrial centres in search of work.
- About 50 per cent workers in the Bombay cotton industries came from the neighbouring district of Ratnagiri, while the mills of Kanpur got workers from the villages within the district of Kanpur.
- Most often mill workers moved between the village and the city, returning to their village homes during harvests and festivals.