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The dense tropical forest and rust-red hills of Lote, located on India’s west coast, give way to a small hill where a industrial facility stands against the sky.

This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its machinery is far from new: it originates from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after among the most severe ecological controversies in the country’s recent history: after decades of producing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was prosecuted for polluting water sources in an area home to 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were convicted at the local tribunal of causing environmental pollution and other charges and given prison sentences, with appeals anticipated.

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Nevertheless, all of the company’s equipment, its patents and processes – all required components to manufacture forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone almost 4,000 miles away, wedged between villages and wooded areas. And the factory has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

A Toxic Legacy

Previously recognized for its expertise in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high concentrations of Pfas in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous of residents had been exposed through drinking water.

The most impacted 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 documented in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I looked at a catalog of health issues related to Pfas, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

High levels of Pfas in the blood are associated with higher chances of malignancies, heart conditions, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests showed 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 concern has grown,” she said. “Since our kids are everyone’s children.”

Corporate Transition

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were acquired in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the open sale. By early 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to investors. Records of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s executives minimized environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to EU regulations”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company established in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and false accounting at the June trial and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. According to a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the firm’s collapse.

While 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 company was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals compatible with Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy explicitly spelled out the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the manufacturing of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Shipping records show that, to get approval on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, cosmetics and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Studies have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, especially near production sites. But even though global focus is increasing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s not recognised by the national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in various regions. But this work are limited in scope, 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 set up in 1986, “the income source of fishing populations in this area totally deteriorated,” she said.

The industrial area is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the plant fails to operate and factories discharge contaminated effluent straight into the streams.” Regulatory bodies have issued multiple notices to the site in the past few years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a proposal to prohibit the production, importation and utilization of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This attention may be driving the sector to the developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar 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 country like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the power that these global corporations have to move in nations where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has shut down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts associated with PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact communities that are facing an unsafe environment for years to come.

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