Where Does a European Manufacturing Facility That Contaminated Water Supplies Move On? Heading to India

The dense tropical forest and rust-red elevations of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, lead to a modest rise where a industrial facility stands under the open sky.

This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its equipment is far from new: it originates from the defunct Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after among the most severe environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was brought to trial for polluting water resources in an region home to 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were found guilty at the local tribunal of causing environmental pollution and other charges and sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated.

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

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its patents and methods – everything needed to manufacture Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among local communities and groves of trees. And the plant has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

An Environmental Burden

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

The worst-affected were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its specialty chemicals division, showed among the top levels of PFAS documented in human blood. “When the story came to light, I reviewed a list of medical conditions associated with PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” states Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the blood are associated with increased risk of malignancies, heart conditions, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Public Apprehensions

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

“As mothers, as females, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are everyone’s children.”

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the public auction. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to investors. Records of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s management minimized environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to EU regulations”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and financial misreporting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. Per a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India prior to the firm’s collapse.

While Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the factory in Lote shows that in March 2018 the company was already planning to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy explicitly spelled out the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Logistics data show that, to secure validation on the quality of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out samples to firms 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, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, cosmetics and other products.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations demonstrate that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, particularly around production sites. But even though global focus is growing, in India the issue is not yet a policy priority.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s not recognised by the national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist 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, coordinator of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was set up in 1986, “the income source of fishing populations in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

The industrial area is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been frequently criticized.

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the facility fails to operate and industries release polluted water directly into the streams.” Regulatory bodies have sent several warning letters to the plant in recent years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a proposal to prohibit the manufacture, import and utilization of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be pushing the industry to the global south, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the University of Padua. “I think that this issue should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s production, patents and equipment have been transferred to a country 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 evidently a lowering of standards in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with Pfas production are expected to impact populations that are facing an hazardous setting for years to come.

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