Where Will a European Chemical Plant Which Polluted Drinking Water Go Next? To India

The lush tropical forest and rust-red hills of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, lead to a modest rise where a factory looms under the open sky.

The factory is largely newly built, but its machinery is far from new: it originates from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following among the most severe ecological controversies in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was prosecuted for polluting water resources in an area home to 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the Vicenza court of environmental damage and other charges and given prison sentences, which they are expected to appeal against.

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

And yet, all of the company’s equipment, its intellectual property and processes – everything needed to manufacture Pfas – 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 recently begun to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Once known for its specialism in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it left behind. In 2011, researchers found extraordinarily high concentrations of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of residents had been exposed through drinking water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its fluorinated chemical department, displayed one of the highest concentrations of PFAS documented in blood samples. “When the story came to light, 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 linked to increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after learning her children’s blood showed high levels of persistent pollutants. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being sent to India, she was shocked.

“Being parents, as females, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Because our children are everyone’s children.”

Corporate Transition

After Miteni went bankrupt, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the open sale. By early 2023, all the equipment was being shipped heading to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to shareholders. Records of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s executives downplayed environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with EU regulations”.

Goenka is a member on the board of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity established in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and financial misreporting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in prison. According to a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan explicitly spelled out the objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Logistics data indicate that, to secure validation on the quality of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing samples to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, manufacturing substances that will be used in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, colorants, beauty products and other products.

Regulatory Context

Studies demonstrate that levels of forever chemicals in the environment are worryingly elevated, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But even though global focus is growing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Independent research groups across India have conducted studies in various regions. But these studies are limited in scope, 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 fisher folk communities in this region totally deteriorated,” she said.

The chemical district is served by 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 the countryside, the plant fails to operate and industries release polluted water directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have issued several warning letters to the plant in the past few years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is reviewing a plan to prohibit the production, importation and use of over ten thousand forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be driving the industry to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I think that this matter should be examined, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, patents and machinery have been transferred to a nation like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the power that these global corporations have to relocate in countries where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact communities that are facing an unsafe environment for years to come.

“The area has experienced sufficient environmental destruction already,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”