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The dense tropical forest and rust-red hills of Lote, situated along India’s western shoreline, give way to a modest rise where a factory looms under the open sky.

The factory is largely newly built, but its equipment is far from new: it originates from the defunct Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after one of the worst environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was brought to trial for polluting water resources in an area inhabited by 350,000 residents. In June, previous company leaders were convicted at the local tribunal of environmental damage and additional offenses and sentenced to jail, which they are expected to appeal against.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its patents and processes – everything needed to manufacture forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, wedged between villages and groves of trees. And the plant has just started to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its specialism in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been exposed through potable water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its specialty chemicals division, displayed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas documented in human blood. “When the story came to light, I reviewed a catalog of health issues related to Pfas, and found out I had them all,” says Ermetti.

High levels of Pfas in the bloodstream are associated with higher chances of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent surgical operation.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, started organizing after learning her children’s blood showed high levels of persistent pollutants. When she learned 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

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch 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. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to investors. Records of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s executives minimized ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to EU regulations”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a company founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and financial misreporting at the June trial and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. Per a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the company went bankrupt.

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 intending to commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the production of PFAS and fluorochemicals. Logistics data show that, to secure validation on the standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to firms with past business relationships with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, producing chemicals that will be used in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, colorants, beauty products and other products.

Regulatory Context

Studies have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But although global focus is increasing, 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 national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Independent research groups 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 industrial district “has a dismal environmental track record”. After it was set up in 1986, “the livelihood of fisher folk communities in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

The chemical district is served by a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been frequently criticized.

“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.” Regulatory bodies have issued multiple notices to the plant in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a proposal to ban the production, import and use of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be pushing the sector to the global south, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I think that this issue should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and equipment have been relocated to a country like India should prompt consideration, at the very least, on the influence that these multinationals have to move in nations where there is evidently a lowering of standards in terms of environmental protection.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts associated with Pfas production are expected to impact populations that are already struggling with an unsafe environment for generations.

“That region has experienced sufficient ecological damage by now,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”