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The lush green jungle and reddish-brown elevations of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, give way to a modest rise where a factory looms against the sky.

This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its equipment is not: it comes from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 after among the most severe environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was prosecuted for contaminating water resources in an region inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were found guilty at the local tribunal of environmental damage and additional offenses and sentenced to jail, which they are expected to appeal against.

What are PFAS, how toxic are they and how do you become exposed?

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its intellectual property and processes – everything needed to manufacture forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among villages and wooded areas. And the factory has recently begun to produce forever chemicals again.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its specialism in creating methods for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated concentrations of Pfas in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous of residents had been exposed through drinking water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, showed among the top levels of PFAS documented in blood samples. “When the story came to light, 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 blood are associated with increased risk of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent surgical operation.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, began mobilizing after learning her children’s blood indicated elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being sent to India, she was shocked.

“As mothers, as women, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are the children of all.”

Corporate Transition

After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets were bought 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 heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to investors. Transcripts of investor gatherings indicate that Laxmi’s executives downplayed ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was found guilty of ecological offenses and false accounting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. Per a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the firm’s collapse.

While Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the plant in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to start producing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to firms with previous commercial ties with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, producing chemicals that will be utilized for agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Studies have shown that concentrations of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But even though global focus is growing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in such guidelines. It’s not recognised by the national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in various regions. But these studies are restricted in range, and there are still only a handful.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, head 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 area totally deteriorated,” she said.

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

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the facility fails to operate and industries discharge contaminated effluent straight into the streams.” Regulatory bodies have sent several warning letters to the plant in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a proposal to ban the production, importation and utilization of more than 10,000 persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be driving 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 examined, because the reality that Miteni’s production, patents and machinery have been transferred to a nation like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the influence that these global corporations have to move in countries where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact lives on – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect populations that are facing an unsafe environment for years to come.

“That region has experienced sufficient ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s always a risk.”