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The lush green jungle and rust-red hills of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, lead to a modest rise where a industrial facility stands under the open sky.

The factory is largely newly built, but its machinery is not: it originates from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 after one of the worst environmental scandals in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for polluting water sources in an area 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 sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated.

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

Nevertheless, all of the company’s equipment, its intellectual property and processes – all required components to manufacture Pfas – 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 factory has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its specialism in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, researchers found extraordinarily high concentrations of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous of inhabitants had been subjected through drinking water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its fluorinated chemical department, displayed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas ever recorded in blood samples. “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.

High levels of PFAS in the blood are associated with higher chances of cancer, heart conditions, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and activist with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests showed elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being sent to India, she was stunned.

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

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the open sale. By early 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped heading to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to investors. Records of investor gatherings indicate that Laxmi’s management minimized environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to 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 ecological offenses and false accounting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. Per a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the company was already planning to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.

Growth Plans

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 standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing samples 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 fully operational, producing chemicals that will be used in pesticides, medicines, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Studies demonstrate that concentrations of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, especially near manufacturing facilities. But although international attention is increasing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority.

“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 this work are limited in scope, and there are still very few of them.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, head of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was set up in 1986, “the income source of fishing populations in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

The chemical district is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in the countryside, the plant cannot function and factories release polluted water directly into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have sent 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, import and utilization of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be pushing the industry to the global south, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the academic institution. “I believe that this issue should be examined, because the reality that Miteni’s production, intellectual assets and equipment have been relocated 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 ecological safeguards.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact populations that are facing an unsafe environment for generations.

“The area has experienced sufficient environmental destruction by now,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s always a risk.”