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The lush tropical forest and rust-red elevations of Lote, situated along India’s western shoreline, give way to a modest rise where a factory looms against the sky.

This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its machinery is not: it comes from the defunct Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 following among the most severe ecological controversies in the country’s recent history: after decades of producing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was brought to trial for polluting water resources in an region home to 350,000 residents. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the local tribunal of causing environmental pollution and additional offenses and given prison sentences, which they are expected to appeal against.

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And yet, all of the company’s equipment, its intellectual property and methods – everything needed to produce forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, wedged between villages and groves of trees. And the plant has recently begun to resume PFAS production.

A Toxic Legacy

Previously recognized for its expertise in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now infamous for the harmful aftermath it bequeathed. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of inhabitants had been subjected through drinking water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its fluorinated chemical department, showed one of the highest concentrations of PFAS documented in blood samples. “When the story came to light, I reviewed a catalog of health issues related to PFAS, and found out I had them all,” states Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the blood are linked to increased risk of malignancies, heart conditions, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and activist with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests indicated elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s patents and equipment were being transferred to India, she was shocked.

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

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were acquired in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the open sale. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to investors. Records of investor gatherings indicate that Laxmi’s executives minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity established in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and financial misreporting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. According to a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the firm’s collapse.

While Laxmi purchased 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 start producing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the production of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Logistics data 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 site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, producing chemicals that will be used in pesticides, medicines, colorants, beauty products and other products.

Regulatory Context

Investigations have shown that levels of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, especially near production sites. 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 not recognised by the national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have performed research in various regions. But these studies are limited in scope, 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 industrial district “has a dismal environmental track record”. After it was set up in 1986, “the livelihood of fishing populations in this area totally deteriorated,” she said.

The industrial area is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been frequently criticized.

“The local villages have always stated that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the facility cannot function and industries discharge contaminated effluent straight into the waterways.” Environmental authorities have issued multiple notices to the plant in the past few years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to prohibit the production, import and utilization of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be pushing the sector to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the academic institution. “I believe that this issue should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, patents and equipment have been transferred to a country like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the influence that these multinationals have to relocate in nations where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact populations that are facing an hazardous setting for years to come.

“That region has seen enough ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”