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The lush tropical forest and reddish-brown elevations of Lote, situated along India’s western shoreline, give way to a small hill where a industrial facility stands against the sky.

The factory is almost brand new, but its equipment is not: it comes from the defunct Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after one of the worst ecological controversies in the country’s recent history: after decades of producing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was brought to trial for contaminating water resources in an region inhabited by 350,000 residents. In June, previous company leaders were convicted at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and other charges and given prison sentences, which they are expected to appeal against.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its intellectual property and methods – everything needed to manufacture Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, wedged between local communities and groves of trees. And the plant has just started to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its expertise in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found extraordinarily high concentrations of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous of residents had been subjected through drinking water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its specialty chemicals division, showed among the top levels of PFAS ever recorded in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a list of medical conditions associated with PFAS, and found out I had them all,” says Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the bloodstream are associated with increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and more. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and activist with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after learning her children’s blood indicated elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s patents and equipment were being sent to India, she was shocked.

“Being parents, as females, our concern has grown,” she said. “Because our children are the children of all.”

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the open sale. By early 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to shareholders. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s management downplayed ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to European standards”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was convicted of environmental pollution and false accounting at the June trial and given six years and four months in prison. Per a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India prior to the firm’s collapse.

While Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the factory in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the production of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to secure validation on the quality of the compounds, 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 location in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for pesticides, medicines, colorants, cosmetics and other products.

Environmental Oversight

Studies demonstrate that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the environment are alarmingly high, especially near production sites. But although global focus is increasing, in India the issue is not yet a policy priority.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is not present in those standards. 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 conducted studies in various regions. But this work are restricted in range, 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 dismal environmental track record”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood of fishing populations in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

The chemical district is served by a shared effluent treatment facility that has been frequently criticized.

“The local villages have consistently reported that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in the countryside, the plant cannot function and industries release polluted water straight into the streams.” Environmental authorities have issued several warning letters to the plant in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is reviewing a plan to prohibit the production, import and utilization of more than 10,000 persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be pushing the sector to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the University of Padua. “I believe that this matter should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, patents and machinery have been transferred to a country like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the power that these multinationals have to move in nations where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact populations that are facing an unsafe environment for years to come.

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