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

The factory is almost brand new, but its machinery is far from new: it comes from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 after 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 polluting water resources in an region inhabited by 350,000 residents. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the Vicenza court of environmental damage and other charges and given prison sentences, with appeals anticipated.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

And yet, the entire operational setup, its intellectual property and processes – everything needed to produce Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone almost 4,000 miles away, wedged between villages and wooded areas. And the plant has just started to resume PFAS production.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its expertise in creating methods for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it left behind. In 2011, researchers found extraordinarily high concentrations of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been subjected through drinking water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its fluorinated chemical department, displayed among the top levels 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,” states Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the blood are associated with higher chances of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and more. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and activist with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests showed high levels of persistent pollutants. When she found out that Miteni’s patents and equipment were being transferred to India, she was shocked.

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

Corporate Transition

After Miteni went bankrupt, its holdings were bought in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the open sale. By early 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to investors. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives downplayed ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the board 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 environmental pollution and financial misreporting at the June trial and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. According to a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the firm’s collapse.

While Laxmi bought Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the factory in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to start producing fluorochemicals compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to requests for comment.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to secure validation on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to companies with previous commercial ties with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for agrochemicals, medicines, colorants, beauty products and other products.

Regulatory Context

Studies demonstrate that levels of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, particularly around production sites. But although global focus is growing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is absent in such guidelines. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have performed research in different states. But these studies 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 set up in 1986, “the income source of fisher folk communities in this region totally deteriorated,” she said.

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

“The local villages have consistently reported that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in the countryside, the facility cannot function and factories discharge contaminated effluent straight into the waterways.” Environmental authorities have sent multiple notices to the plant in the past few years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a proposal to ban the manufacture, importation and utilization of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This attention may be driving the sector to the global south, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the academic institution. “I think that this issue should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s production, patents and machinery have been transferred to a country like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the influence that these multinationals have to relocate in countries where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to Pfas production are expected to impact populations that are facing an hazardous setting for years to come.

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