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The dense green jungle and rust-red elevations of Lote, situated along India’s western shoreline, give way to a modest rise where a industrial facility stands under the open sky.

The factory is largely newly built, but its equipment is not: it comes from the defunct Miteni factory 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 persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for polluting water resources in an area inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were convicted at the local tribunal of environmental damage and additional offenses and given prison sentences, with appeals anticipated.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

And yet, all of the company’s equipment, its intellectual property and methods – all required components to manufacture Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among local communities and groves of trees. And the factory has recently begun to resume PFAS production.

A Toxic Legacy

Previously recognized for its specialism in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the harmful aftermath it bequeathed. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants had been subjected through drinking water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, showed one of the highest concentrations of PFAS documented in human blood. “When the story came to light, I reviewed a list of medical conditions 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 cancer, heart conditions, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure.

Public Apprehensions

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

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

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were bought in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the open sale. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped heading to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to shareholders. Records of investor gatherings indicate that Laxmi’s executives downplayed ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with EU regulations”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the board 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 ecological offenses and financial misreporting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. Per a former mid-level manager speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the firm’s collapse.

While Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the factory in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the goal to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and become a leader in the manufacturing of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Logistics data show that, to get approval on the standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out 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 fully operational, producing chemicals that will be used in pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dyes, cosmetics and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Studies have shown that levels of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, especially near production sites. But even though global focus is increasing, in India the matter is not on the political agenda yet.

“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. “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.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established 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 not working properly,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in the countryside, the plant cannot function and industries release contaminated effluent directly into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have sent multiple notices to the plant in the past few years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to prohibit the manufacture, importation and use of more than 10,000 persistent compounds. This attention may be pushing the industry to the global south, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the academic institution. “I think that this issue should be examined, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, patents and equipment have been relocated to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the influence that these multinationals have to relocate in nations where there is clearly a lowering of standards in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact lives on – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect communities that are facing an hazardous setting for generations.

“The area has seen enough ecological damage by now,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s always a risk.”