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The dense tropical forest and reddish-brown hills of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, give way to a small hill where a factory looms under the open sky.

The factory is almost brand new, but its machinery is not: it originates from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 following one of the worst ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was prosecuted for contaminating water sources in an area home to 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and additional offenses and given prison sentences, which they are expected to appeal against.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

And yet, the entire operational setup, its patents and processes – all required components to produce forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among villages and groves of trees. And the factory has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its specialism in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the harmful aftermath it left behind. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of Pfas in the plant’s wastewater. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants had been subjected through drinking water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its specialty chemicals division, showed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas documented in human blood. “After the facts emerged, 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 associated with higher chances of malignancies, heart conditions, organ impairment, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after discovering her children’s blood indicated high levels of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s patents and equipment were being transferred to India, she was stunned.

“Being parents, as females, our concern has grown,” she said. “Because our children are the children of all.”

Corporate Transition

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were bought in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the public auction. By early 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to shareholders. Records of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s management minimized environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to EU regulations”.

Goenka is a member on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity founded in 2021. Another 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. Per a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the company went bankrupt.

Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the construction of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already planning to start producing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the production of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to secure validation on the standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing samples to firms with past business relationships with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

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

Regulatory Context

Investigations have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, especially near production sites. But even though international attention is increasing, in India the issue is not yet a policy priority.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is not present in such guidelines. It’s not recognised by the Indian government as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups across India have conducted studies in various regions. But this work are restricted in range, 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 industrial area is dependent on a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“The local villages have always stated that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the facility fails to operate and factories release contaminated effluent directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have issued multiple notices to the plant in the past few years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a plan to prohibit the production, importation and use of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be pushing the industry to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I think that this issue should be investigated, because the fact 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 influence that these global corporations have to relocate in countries where there is evidently a lowering of standards in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts associated with PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect populations that are facing an unsafe environment for generations.

“That region has seen enough environmental destruction already,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms move in, it’s always a risk.”