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The lush tropical forest and reddish-brown elevations of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, lead to a small hill where a factory looms against the sky.

The factory is almost brand new, but its machinery is not: it comes from the defunct Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after among the most severe environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for polluting water resources in an area inhabited by 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

Nevertheless, all of the company’s equipment, its intellectual property and methods – all required components to manufacture forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among local communities and wooded areas. And the factory has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its expertise in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now infamous for the harmful aftermath it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of residents had been exposed through drinking water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its specialty chemicals division, displayed among the top levels of PFAS ever recorded in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a list of medical conditions associated with Pfas, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

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

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, began mobilizing after discovering her children’s blood showed elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being sent to India, she was shocked.

“Being parents, as females, our concern has grown,” she said. “Since our kids are everyone’s children.”

Corporate Transition

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were bought in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a branch of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the public auction. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was being shipped en route to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to investors. Records of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s management downplayed environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to European standards”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a company founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and false accounting at the June trial and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. According to a ex-supervisor 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 plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the company was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals compatible with Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan explicitly spelled out the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the production of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Shipping records show that, to get approval on the quality of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, producing chemicals that will be used in pesticides, pharmaceuticals, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations have shown that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the environment are worryingly elevated, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But even though international attention is increasing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is not present in such guidelines. It’s not recognised by the Indian government currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have performed research in different states. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still very few of them.”

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 set up in 1986, “the livelihood of fishing populations in this region totally deteriorated,” she said.

The chemical district is dependent on a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“The local villages have consistently reported that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the plant fails to operate and factories discharge polluted water straight into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have sent multiple notices to the plant in the past few years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a proposal to prohibit the production, import and use of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be driving the sector to the developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the academic institution. “I think 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, minimally, on the power that these multinationals have to move in nations where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has shut down, but the company’s toxic legacy continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact communities that are facing an hazardous setting for years to come.

“The area has seen enough ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s always a risk.”