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The lush tropical forest and rust-red elevations of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, lead to a modest rise where a factory looms against the sky.

This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its machinery is not: it originates from the defunct Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after 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 resources in an area inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were convicted at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and other charges and sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

And yet, the entire operational setup, its intellectual property and processes – all required components 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 factory has just started to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its expertise in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated levels of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been subjected through potable water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, displayed among the top levels of Pfas documented in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a catalog of health issues associated with Pfas, and found out I had them all,” states Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the blood are linked to higher chances of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent surgical operation.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests showed elevated amounts 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 anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are everyone’s children.”

Business Shift

After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets were acquired in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a branch of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the public auction. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to investors. Records 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 one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and false accounting at the June trial and given six years and four months in jail. Per a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the company went bankrupt.

While Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the company was already planning to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the production of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Logistics data indicate that, to get approval on the quality of the chemicals, 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, manufacturing substances that will be used in pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dyes, beauty products and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Studies have shown that concentrations of forever chemicals in the environment are alarmingly high, especially near production sites. But although international attention is increasing, in India the matter is not on the political agenda yet.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is absent in such guidelines. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in different states. 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 income source of fishing populations in this region totally deteriorated,” she said.

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

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the facility cannot function and factories discharge contaminated effluent directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have sent multiple notices to the plant in the past few years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a proposal to prohibit the production, import and use of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This attention may be pushing the sector to the global south, per Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I think that this matter should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s production, intellectual assets and equipment have been transferred to a country like India should prompt consideration, at the very least, on the influence that these multinationals have to move 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 lives on – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts associated with PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact communities that are facing an hazardous setting for years to come.

“The area has seen enough environmental destruction already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies move in, it’s perpetually concerning.”