Where Will a European Manufacturing Facility That Contaminated Water Supplies Go Next? Heading to India

The dense green jungle and rust-red elevations of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, give way to a small hill where a industrial facility stands against the sky.

This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its machinery is far from new: it originates from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following among the most severe environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for contaminating water resources in an region home to 350,000 residents. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the Vicenza court of environmental damage and additional offenses and sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

And yet, all of the company’s equipment, its patents and methods – everything needed to produce forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, wedged between local communities and groves of trees. And the factory has recently begun to produce forever chemicals again.

A Toxic Legacy

Previously recognized for its specialism in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of residents had been subjected through potable water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, displayed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas ever recorded in blood samples. “When the story came to light, I looked at a catalog of health issues associated with PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the bloodstream are associated with increased risk of cancer, heart conditions, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent surgical operation.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after discovering her children’s blood indicated elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being transferred to India, she was shocked.

“As mothers, as women, our concern has grown,” she said. “Since our kids are the children of all.”

Corporate Transition

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were acquired 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 recent purchase to investors. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s management minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to European standards”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the directorate 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 prison. Per a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the company went bankrupt.

While Laxmi purchased Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the company was already planning to start producing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.

Growth Plans

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

From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, beauty products and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, especially near manufacturing facilities. But although international attention is growing, in India the matter is not on the political agenda yet.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is not present in those standards. It’s unacknowledged 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 various regions. But these studies are limited in scope, and there are still very few of them.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, head of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood of fisher folk communities in this area totally deteriorated,” she said.

The chemical district is served by a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“The local villages have consistently reported that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the plant fails to operate and industries release polluted water straight into the streams.” Environmental authorities have sent several warning letters to the plant in recent years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to ban the production, import and utilization of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This attention may be pushing the sector to the global south, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I believe that this matter should be examined, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, patents and equipment have been transferred to a country like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the influence that these multinationals have to relocate in nations where there is clearly a lowering of standards in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has shut down, but the company’s toxic legacy continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with Pfas production are likely to affect populations that are already struggling with an hazardous setting for generations.

“The area has seen enough ecological damage by now,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms move in, it’s always a risk.”