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The lush green jungle and reddish-brown elevations of Lote, located on India’s west coast, lead to a modest rise where a industrial facility stands under the open sky.

This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its machinery is far from new: it comes from the defunct Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 after one of the worst ecological controversies in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was prosecuted for contaminating water resources in an area home to 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were convicted at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and additional offenses and sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated.

What are PFAS, how toxic are they and how do you become exposed?

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its intellectual property and methods – everything needed to manufacture forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among local communities and groves of trees. And the plant has recently begun to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Once known for its specialism in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been subjected through potable water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, displayed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas documented in human blood. “When the story came to light, I looked at a catalog of health issues associated with PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

High levels of PFAS in the bloodstream are linked to increased risk of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and activist with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests showed high levels of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being sent to India, she was shocked.

“As mothers, as females, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Because our children are everyone’s children.”

Corporate Transition

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the open sale. By early 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to investors. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives minimized environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity established in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of environmental pollution and financial misreporting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. Per 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 properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the construction of the plant in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records show that, to secure validation on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, producing chemicals that will be utilized for pesticides, medicines, colorants, beauty products and other products.

Regulatory Context

Investigations have shown that levels of persistent pollutants in the environment are worryingly elevated, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But even though global focus is increasing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in different states. But these studies are restricted in range, and there are still very few of them.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the regional environmental group, 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 region totally deteriorated,” she said.

The chemical district is dependent on a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been frequently criticized.

“The local villages have always stated that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the facility cannot function and factories release contaminated effluent directly into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have issued several warning letters to the plant in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is reviewing a proposal to ban the manufacture, importation and use of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be driving the sector to the global south, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the University of Padua. “I think that this issue should be examined, because the fact that Miteni’s production, intellectual assets and machinery have been transferred to a country like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the influence that these multinationals have to move in countries where there is evidently a lowering of standards in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect communities that are already struggling with an hazardous setting for years to come.

“The area has seen enough ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”