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The dense green jungle and reddish-brown elevations of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, lead to a modest rise where a factory looms under the open sky.

The factory is almost brand new, but its equipment is far from new: it comes from the defunct Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 after one of the worst ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was brought to trial for contaminating water sources in an region home to 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were convicted at the local tribunal of causing environmental pollution and additional offenses and given prison sentences, which they are expected to appeal against.

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And yet, the entire operational setup, its patents and processes – all required components to produce Pfas – 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 left behind. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of residents had been subjected through drinking water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, showed among the top levels of Pfas ever recorded in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a catalog of health issues associated with Pfas, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the bloodstream are linked to higher chances of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and activist with Mothers Against PFAS, began mobilizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests showed high levels of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being sent to India, she was shocked.

“Being parents, as women, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are everyone’s children.”

Business Shift

After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets were bought 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, the complete machinery was being shipped en route to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to investors. Records of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s executives minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with EU regulations”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a company established in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO 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 prison. According to a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the company went bankrupt.

While Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the construction of the factory in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already planning to commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the production of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing samples to firms with past business relationships with Miteni, such as 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 used in pesticides, medicines, dyes, cosmetics and other products.

Environmental Oversight

Studies demonstrate that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But although international attention is growing, 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 as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Independent research groups across India have conducted studies in different states. But this work are limited in scope, and there are still only a handful.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, head of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established in 1986, “the income source of fisher folk communities in this area totally deteriorated,” 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. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in the countryside, the facility cannot function and factories discharge polluted water straight into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have sent several warning letters to the site in recent years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a plan to ban the manufacture, import and use of more than 10,000 persistent compounds. This attention may be driving the industry to the global south, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I think that this matter should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and equipment have been relocated to a country like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the power that these global corporations have to relocate in nations where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect communities that are already struggling with an hazardous setting for years to come.

“The area has experienced sufficient ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies move in, it’s always a risk.”