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The lush green jungle and rust-red elevations of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, lead to a small hill where a factory looms under the open sky.

This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its machinery is not: it originates from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following among the most severe environmental scandals in the nation’s modern record: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was brought to trial for polluting water sources in an area home to 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the local tribunal of environmental damage and other charges and given prison sentences, with appeals anticipated.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

And yet, all of the company’s equipment, its patents and processes – everything needed to produce Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, wedged between villages and wooded areas. And the plant has recently begun to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its expertise in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high levels of Pfas in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous of residents 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 ever recorded in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I looked at a catalog of health issues associated with PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the bloodstream are linked to higher chances of malignancies, heart conditions, organ impairment, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and activist with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after learning her children’s blood showed elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being sent to India, she was stunned.

“Being parents, as women, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are the children of all.”

Business Shift

After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets were bought in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the public auction. By early 2023, all the equipment was being shipped en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to shareholders. Transcripts of investor gatherings indicate that Laxmi’s management downplayed environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate 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 environmental pollution and financial misreporting at the June trial and given six years and four months in jail. Per a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India prior to the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties 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 start producing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of PFAS and fluorochemicals. Logistics data indicate that, to secure validation on the quality of the compounds, 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 location in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, producing chemicals that will be utilized for agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, beauty products and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Studies have shown that levels of persistent pollutants in the environment are alarmingly high, especially near manufacturing facilities. But even though global focus is growing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the Indian government as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups across India have performed research in various regions. But these studies are restricted in range, 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 dismal environmental track record”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood of fisher folk communities in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

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

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

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to prohibit the manufacture, import and use of over ten thousand forever chemicals. This attention may be driving the industry to the global south, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the University of Padua. “I believe that this matter should be examined, because the reality that Miteni’s production, intellectual assets and equipment have been transferred to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the influence that these multinationals have to relocate in countries where there is clearly 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 contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect communities that are facing an unsafe environment for years to come.

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