Various items on display at the national-level exhibition of Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 27: The five-day national-level exhibition-cum-seminar of Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry concluded on Wednesday evening with a valedictory session.

Held on Exhibition Ground, it had drawn shoppers, businessmen and entrepreneurs alike. Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which is celebrating its golden jubilee year had themed the exhibition as ‘Odisha moves forward’ to showcase the phenomenal development in the state in the past few decades.

On the valedictory ceremony, the chamber awarded various industrial houses and successful entrepreneurs for their outstanding contribution in various fields of industry, business and services. On the occasion, it also distributed digital hearing aids to hearing impaired children.

A section of the exhibition was dedicated to the automobile companies, who displayed spanking new cars and bikes. Youngsters were seen asking the specifics of the SUVs and sports bikes. The adjacent section belonged to the real estate agents, who tried their best to lure in the customers with a variety of offers.

Around 40 kiosks had something for the homemakers as well. Food and agriculture and packaging and processing units put up spices, electronic kitchen appliances and manual food dicers and slicers.

Even herbal products, fertilisers and pesticides were available. Some of the food kiosk also offered the visitors the opportunity to munch while checking out the various products.

“The number of kiosks were not that many, but the ambience was wonderful. One could see the kiosks, talk to the businessmen around and develop a sense of entrepreneurship,” said Deepika Parida, a college goer. Also, the stamp collection of A. Krishna Rao, 52, a senior section engineer of the East Coast Railways attracted the visitors.

As a part of the event, seminars were organised every morning at the Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry conference hall at Nayapalli. The topics that were deliberated upon included “Forest and environment clearances for sustainable mining”, “Export — As an engine for growth”, “Technology implementation in agriculture and food processing” and “From exclusion to inclusion of universal accessibility”.

Established names, as well as upcoming businessmen, participated in these seminars.

Cultural programmes also took place every evening to enthral the visitors.