Devendra Fadnavis and Adityanath, the chief ministers of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, will on Friday address the World Hindu Economic Forum in 20-minute speeches about their state economies. Several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Union minister Nitin Gadkari, and the finance ministers of Assam and Maharashtra, will speak at the three-day event in Mumbai.

According to the forum’s website, it brings together “financially successful elements within Hindu society such as traders, bankers, technocrats, investors, industrialists, business persons, professionals, along with economists and thinkers”. “We encourage, support and mentor budding Hindu entrepreneurs,” the website says. “The end goal is to generate surplus wealth and make society prosperous.”

The website added that Hindus should cooperate and collaborate globally “so that market access is facilitated amongst them”. “We Hindus know how to create wealth, and also freely share this knowledge,” it said. Hindus contributed 35%-49% of the world economy from the first to the 15th century, according to the description.

Other speakers include former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairperson AS Kiran Kumar, State Bank of India Chairperson Rajnish Kumar, Piramal Group Chairman Ajay Piramal and Tata Sons President Banmali Agrawala. Top executives from Lockheed Martin, Larsen & Toubro and Aditya Birla Group will also address the event.

Apart from the master of ceremony, all 57 speakers at the event are men.

The event has plenary sessions for each major sector spread across three days – such as manufacturing, agriculture, entrepreneurship, banking and finance, retail and e-commerce and construction. Fadnavis will speak about growth and opportunities in Maharashtra, while Adityanath’s speech is titled “Uttar Pradesh: Powering Economy of Naya Bharat”. Rupani will speak about “Vibrant Gujarat” on Sunday.