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The lush tropical forest and rust-red hills of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, lead to a small hill where a factory looms under the open sky.

The factory is largely newly built, but its machinery is not: it originates from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following among the most severe environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was brought to trial for polluting water resources in an region home to 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the Vicenza court of environmental damage and additional offenses and given prison sentences, with appeals anticipated.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

Nevertheless, all of the company’s equipment, its patents and processes – everything needed to produce Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among villages and groves of trees. And the plant has recently begun to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its specialism in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated levels of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous of residents had been exposed through potable water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, showed among the top levels of Pfas ever recorded in blood samples. “When the story came to light, I looked at a catalog of health issues related to PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the bloodstream are linked to increased risk of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests indicated elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being sent to India, she was stunned.

“As mothers, as females, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are the children of all.”

Business Shift

After Miteni went bankrupt, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the public auction. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to investors. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s management downplayed environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to EU regulations”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a company founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of ecological offenses and financial misreporting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in jail. According to a former mid-level manager speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the company went bankrupt.

Although Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the company was already planning to commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to requests for comment.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the manufacturing of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Shipping records show that, to secure validation on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to firms with previous commercial ties with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for pesticides, medicines, dyes, cosmetics and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Investigations have shown that concentrations of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, especially near manufacturing facilities. But even though international attention is growing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the Indian government currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups across India have performed research in different states. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still only a handful.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a dismal environmental track record”. After it was established in 1986, “the income source of fishing populations in this area totally deteriorated,” she said.

The chemical district is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“The local villages have consistently reported that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the facility cannot function and industries release contaminated effluent directly into the streams.” Regulatory bodies have sent multiple notices to the site in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a proposal to prohibit the production, import and utilization of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This attention may be pushing the sector to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I believe that this issue should be examined, because the fact that Miteni’s production, patents and equipment have been relocated to a country like India should prompt consideration, at the very least, on the influence that these multinationals have to move in countries where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy continues – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect populations that are already struggling with an hazardous setting for years to come.

“That region has experienced sufficient environmental destruction already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s always a risk.”