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The lush tropical forest and rust-red hills of Lote, located on India’s west coast, lead to a modest rise where a industrial facility stands against the sky.

The factory is largely newly built, but its equipment is far from new: it comes from the defunct Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after among the most severe environmental scandals in the nation’s modern record: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was brought to trial for polluting water sources in an region inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the local tribunal of environmental damage and other charges and sentenced to jail, which they are expected to appeal against.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its patents and methods – all required components to manufacture Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among villages and groves of trees. And the plant has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

A Toxic Legacy

Previously recognized for its specialism in creating methods for specialty compounds, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of inhabitants had been exposed through potable water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its specialty chemicals division, displayed one of the highest concentrations of PFAS documented in blood samples. “When the story came to light, I looked at a list of medical conditions associated with PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the bloodstream are associated with higher chances of malignancies, heart conditions, organ impairment, fertility issues and more. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent surgical operation.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after learning her children’s blood indicated high levels of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being sent to India, she was shocked.

“As mothers, as women, our concern has grown,” she said. “Because our children are the children of all.”

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the public auction. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to investors. Records of investor gatherings indicate that Laxmi’s management downplayed environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to European standards”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and financial misreporting at the June trial and given six years and four months in prison. According to a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the firm’s collapse.

While Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to start producing fluorochemicals compatible with Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan explicitly spelled out the goal to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and become a leader in the manufacturing of PFAS and fluorochemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to secure validation on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, manufacturing substances that will be used in agrochemicals, medicines, dyes, beauty products and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Studies demonstrate that levels of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But although global focus is increasing, in India the matter is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in such guidelines. It’s unacknowledged by the Indian government currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in various regions. But these studies are limited in scope, and there are still very few of them.”

Regional Consequences

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

The chemical district is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been frequently criticized.

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the plant cannot function and factories release contaminated effluent directly into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have sent multiple notices to the plant in recent years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a plan to ban the production, import and utilization of over ten thousand forever chemicals. This attention may be driving the industry 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 reality that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and equipment have been relocated to a country like India should prompt consideration, at the very least, on the power that these global corporations have to relocate in countries where there is clearly a lowering of standards in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with Pfas production are expected to impact populations that are facing an unsafe environment for years to come.

“That region has experienced sufficient environmental destruction by now,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s always a risk.”