The dense green jungle and rust-red elevations of Lote, situated along India’s western shoreline, give way to a small hill where a factory looms under the open sky.
This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its machinery is not: it originates from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following among the most severe environmental scandals in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for contaminating water sources in an region inhabited by 350,000 residents. In June, its former executives were found guilty at the local tribunal of causing environmental pollution and other charges and given prison sentences, which they are expected to appeal against.
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And yet, all of the company’s equipment, its patents and processes – everything needed to produce forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among local communities and groves of trees. And the plant has recently begun to produce forever chemicals again.
A Toxic Legacy
Once known for its expertise in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it left behind. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous of inhabitants had been subjected through potable water.
The most impacted were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its fluorinated chemical department, showed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas ever recorded in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I looked at a list of medical conditions related to PFAS, and found out I had them all,” states Ermetti.
Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the bloodstream are associated with increased risk of cancer, 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 Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests showed elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s patents and equipment were being sent to India, she was stunned.
“Being parents, as females, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are the children of all.”
Corporate Transition
After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets were acquired in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a branch of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the open sale. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to shareholders. Records of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s management minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with European standards”.
Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was convicted of environmental pollution and financial misreporting at the June trial and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. According to a former mid-level manager speaking on condition of anonymity, 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 shows that in March 2018 the firm was already planning to start producing fluorochemicals 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 “capture [the] market share 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 standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out samples to companies with previous commercial ties with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.
Since early 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, producing chemicals that will be used in agrochemicals, medicines, dyes, beauty products and additional goods.
Regulatory Context
Studies have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the environment are worryingly elevated, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But even though international attention 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 unacknowledged by the national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups across India have performed research in various regions. But these studies are restricted in range, and there are still very few of them.”
Local Impact
Parineeta Dandekar, head of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established in 1986, “the income source of fisher folk communities in this region completely collapsed,” she said.
The chemical district is served by a shared effluent treatment facility that has been frequently criticized.
“Nearby communities have consistently reported that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in the countryside, the plant cannot function and industries discharge contaminated effluent straight into the streams.” Regulatory bodies have issued multiple notices to the site in recent years.
Global Implications
In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a proposal to ban the manufacture, import and utilization of more than 10,000 persistent compounds. This attention may be pushing the industry 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 production, patents and equipment have been relocated to a country like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the influence that these multinationals have to move in nations 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 continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect populations that are already struggling with an unsafe environment for generations.
“That region has seen enough ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”
