IN A SUNLIT office in London’s West End, Amit Lohia contemplates the weight of legacy. At 50, he’s steering one of the world’s largest materials empires while penning poetry in longhand. This unlikely combination of industrialist and artist offers a glimpse into how the Lohia dynasty has reimagined global business leadership.
The family’s £10.2 billion fortune, as per the latest Asian Rich List, stems from Indorama, founded by Amit’s father Sri Prakash Lohia in 1975. Today, their influence extends far beyond their core polyester business – they’re among the world’s top ten fertiliser producers and top three medical glove manufacturers, with operations spanning from Brazil to Uzbekistan.
But what truly sets the Lohias apart is their distinctive approach to power. While other business dynasties often struggle with succession, Sri Prakash has masterfully orchestrated a gradual transfer of responsibility to Amit, who serves as vice chairman.
“My dad’s very empowering,” Amit told the Asian Rich List. “He empowers his people, he empowered me a lot from a young age to take responsibility. I’ve been lucky in that sense.”
This empowerment philosophy extends throughout their 26,000-strong workforce, whom Sri Prakash considers his ‘extended family’. Their ability to build lasting relationships across diverse cultures has been crucial to their global expansion.
“You have to be a credible foreign investor who thinks long term,” Amit has said. “You have to be patient in some countries. You have to give back to those communities. Those things resonate no matter which part of the world you operate in. They are fundamental to any foreign direct investor anywhere.”
The Lohias’ influence stems from their mastery of essential materials that underpin modern life. Their fertilisers boost crop yields across continents, their medical gloves proved crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their polymers and fibres are fundamental to countless industries. Through Indorama Ventures, their public company listed in Thailand, they’ve grown from a $2 billion enterprise in 2010 to nearly $20 billion in turnover today.
Yet power, in the Lohias’ world, isn’t just about financial might. Sri Prakash has digitised his collection of rare, illustrated books for free public access. Amit writes poetry and devours science fiction, citing authors from Emily Brontë to Isaac Asimov as influences. His wife Aarti collects art and has devoted years to nurturing their 15-year-old son Soham’s chess career – he’s now close to becoming one of the world’s 2,000 active grandmasters.
“She’s been travelling with him, competing, and she’s given a lot of her life to that,” Amit said. “We have supported his passion for this game, and he’s done his part of really working hard and putting everything into it.”
Amit has published two anthologies: the ghost in you, written in his teenage years, and wishing for impossible things, penned in his thirties and forties. His writing, all in lower case, reflects a desire for freedom from the constraints of punctuation and structure.
“It’s just freeing,” he explained. “You don’t have to deal with punctuation. It’s easier. Otherwise, you start thinking, should I emphasise this word or that word.”
Their roots trace back to Rajasthan’s Marwari community, known for their trading acumen.
“Business is in my blood and it’s my firm belief that I was always destined to succeed as an entrepreneur,” wrote Sri Prakash in his memoirs, Threads of My Life, a title that nods to Indorama’s core business of polyester fibre production.
“Marwaris have a ‘get up and go’ attitude. This trait was born out of necessity given that 70 per cent of Rajasthan is made up of the Thar Desert.”
From these desert origins, the family has built a truly global presence. They maintain homes in London and a 40-acre mansion in Hertfordshire, while expanding into new ventures like a 1,000-hectare golfing resort in Tuscany.
Yet Amit, sometimes dubbed the ‘Polyester Prince’ by tabloids, emphasises that with such privilege comes responsibility: “People see the result and go, ‘How lucky is that person?’, but don’t realise the risks that person has taken.”
Born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in August 1952, Sri Prakash graduated in commerce from Delhi University and joined his father’s business at the age of 20. His father, Mohan Lal Lohia, was a pioneering figure who expanded the family business across Burma (Myanmar), Singapore, Japan, Nepal, and Indonesia.
This legacy of bold entrepreneurship laid the foundation for Sri Prakash’s own journey across continents.
Amit, born in Delhi, grew up in Indonesia, where Indorama was established half a century ago. A graduate of the Wharton School of Business with a degree in finance, he joined the family business in 1995 and has since played a pivotal role in running businesses, leading turnarounds of distressed assets, and implementing greenfield projects worldwide.
Based in London, Amit finds the city’s time zone ideal for managing Indorama’s global operations. “You can probably be one flight away from anywhere in the world,” he said.
The family’s power lies not just in their vast business interests, but in their ability to balance tradition with innovation, East with West, and commercial success with cultural sophistication. Amit’s management style reflects this synthesis: “A lot of my job is like a HR job. The job is all about people, making sure the right people are there in the right jobs, being supported and performing as they should.”
Looking ahead, the Lohias continue to expand their influence. Their fertiliser business, started just a decade ago, has become a major revenue stream. They’re developing new projects across multiple countries and actively pursuing mergers and acquisitions.
Yet amidst this empire-building, they maintain a distinctly human touch. As Amit writes in his latest poetry collection: “be it love, impregnable bonds, inspiration, transcendental growth, or the quest for purpose: life is all about wishing for beautiful and impossible things.”
