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

This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its equipment is far from new: it originates from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after among the most severe ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for contaminating water resources in an region home to 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were convicted at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and additional offenses and given prison sentences, with appeals anticipated.

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

Nevertheless, all of the company’s equipment, its patents and methods – all required components to produce Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, wedged between villages and groves of trees. And the factory has just started to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its expertise in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found extraordinarily high levels of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants had been subjected through potable water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, showed among the top levels of PFAS documented in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I looked at a catalog of health issues associated with PFAS, and found out I had them all,” says Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the bloodstream are associated with higher chances of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and activist with Mothers Against PFAS, began mobilizing after discovering her children’s blood indicated high levels of forever chemicals. 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.”

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were bought in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the public auction. By early 2023, all the equipment was being shipped heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to shareholders. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s executives downplayed ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the board of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and false accounting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. According to a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the company went bankrupt.

Although 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 company was already planning to start producing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan explicitly spelled out the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of PFAS and fluorochemicals. Logistics data show that, to get approval on the standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing samples to companies with previous commercial ties with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for agrochemicals, medicines, dyes, cosmetics and other products.

Regulatory Context

Investigations demonstrate that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But although global focus is growing, in India the matter is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in such guidelines. It’s unacknowledged by the Indian government currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in various regions. But this work are limited in scope, and there are still only a handful.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, head of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood of fishing populations in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

The chemical district is dependent on a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been frequently criticized.

“Nearby communities have consistently reported that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the facility cannot function and factories release polluted water directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have sent several warning letters to the site in the past few years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to ban the production, import and utilization of more than 10,000 persistent compounds. This attention may be pushing the sector to the developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the University of Padua. “I think that this issue should be examined, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, patents and machinery have been relocated to a nation like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the power that these global corporations have to relocate in nations where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect populations that are already struggling with an hazardous setting for years to come.

“That region has experienced sufficient ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies move in, it’s always a risk.”