Where Does a Western Manufacturing Facility That Contaminated Water Supplies Go Next? To India

The dense tropical forest and rust-red elevations of Lote, situated along India’s western shoreline, lead to a small hill where a factory looms against the sky.

The factory is largely newly built, but its machinery is not: it originates from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 following among the most severe ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for contaminating water sources in an area inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were convicted at the Vicenza court 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, all of the company’s equipment, its intellectual property and methods – all required components to produce Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, wedged between villages and wooded areas. And the factory has recently begun to produce forever chemicals again.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its expertise in developing processes 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. Hundreds of thousands 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, showed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas ever recorded in blood samples. “When the story came to light, I reviewed a catalog of health issues associated with PFAS, and found out I had them all,” says Ermetti.

High levels of Pfas in the bloodstream are associated with higher chances of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent surgical operation.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and activist with Mothers Against PFAS, began mobilizing after learning her children’s blood showed elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being sent to India, she was stunned.

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

Business Shift

After Miteni went bankrupt, 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 being shipped heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to investors. Records of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives minimized environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a company founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of environmental pollution and false accounting at the June trial and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. Per a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India prior to the company went bankrupt.

Although Laxmi bought Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the company was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to 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 specialty chemicals. Logistics data indicate that, to secure validation on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out samples to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, producing chemicals that will be utilized for agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, beauty products and other products.

Environmental Oversight

Studies demonstrate that levels of persistent pollutants in the environment are worryingly elevated, especially near production sites. But even though international attention is growing, in India the issue is not yet a policy priority.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in those standards. It’s not recognised by the Indian government as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups across India have performed research in different states. But these studies are limited in scope, 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 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 shared effluent treatment facility that has been frequently criticized.

“The local villages have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the plant fails to operate and industries discharge polluted water directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have issued several warning letters to the plant in recent years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a plan to ban the manufacture, importation and utilization of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be pushing 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 reality that Miteni’s operations, patents and machinery have been transferred to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the power that these global corporations have to relocate in countries where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to Pfas production are expected to impact populations that are already struggling with an unsafe environment for years to come.

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