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The lush green jungle and reddish-brown elevations of Lote, located on India’s west coast, give way to a small hill where a factory looms against the sky.

The factory is almost brand new, but its equipment is not: it comes 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 persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was brought to trial for polluting water sources in an region home to 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were convicted at the local tribunal of causing environmental pollution and other charges and sentenced to jail, which they are expected to appeal against.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

And yet, the entire operational setup, its intellectual property and methods – all required components to produce Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone thousands of miles distant, wedged between villages and groves of trees. And the plant has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its expertise in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, researchers found extraordinarily high levels of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of inhabitants had been exposed through drinking water.

The worst-affected 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 human blood. “When the story came to light, I looked at 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 linked to higher chances of cancer, heart conditions, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, started organizing after learning her children’s blood showed elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s patents and equipment were being sent to India, she was shocked.

“As mothers, as women, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Because our children are everyone’s children.”

Business Shift

After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets were bought in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the public auction. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was being shipped en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to investors. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives downplayed ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company established in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of ecological offenses and financial misreporting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in jail. Per a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the factory in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already planning to start producing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records show that, to secure validation on the quality of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing samples to firms with past business relationships with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, producing chemicals that will be utilized for pesticides, medicines, dyes, beauty products and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Studies have shown that concentrations of forever chemicals in the environment are worryingly elevated, especially near production sites. But although global focus is growing, in India the issue is not yet a policy priority.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is not present in such guidelines. It’s not recognised by the national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in various regions. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still only a handful.”

Local Impact

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

The industrial area is served by a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“The local villages have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the facility fails to operate and factories discharge polluted water straight into the waterways.” Environmental authorities have sent several warning letters to the site in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining 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 developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the academic institution. “I believe that this issue should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s production, intellectual assets and machinery have been relocated to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the power that these global corporations have to relocate in countries where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has shut down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact communities that are facing an hazardous setting for years to come.

“That region has experienced sufficient environmental destruction already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”