Where Does a Western Chemical Plant That Contaminated Water Supplies Go Next? To India

The dense tropical forest and reddish-brown elevations of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, lead to a modest rise where a factory looms against the sky.

The factory is almost brand new, but its machinery is far from new: it originates from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 following one of the worst ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was brought to trial for contaminating water resources in an area home to 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were convicted at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and additional offenses and given prison sentences, which they are expected to appeal against.

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

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its intellectual property and processes – all required components to manufacture Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among local communities and groves of trees. And the plant has just started to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized 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 plant’s wastewater. Numerous of inhabitants had been exposed through potable water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its specialty chemicals division, showed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas documented in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a list of medical conditions associated with Pfas, and found out I had them all,” says Ermetti.

High levels of PFAS in the blood are linked to higher chances of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and activist with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after learning her children’s blood indicated elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being transferred to India, she was shocked.

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

Business Shift

After Miteni went bankrupt, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the open sale. By early 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to shareholders. Records of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s management minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with EU regulations”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company established in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was convicted of environmental pollution and false accounting at the June trial and given six years and four months in prison. Per a former mid-level manager speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the firm’s collapse.

While Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the ecological review for the construction of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the company was already planning to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to requests for comment.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy explicitly spelled out the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Shipping records show that, to get approval on the standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches 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 completely active, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, colorants, beauty products and other products.

Environmental Oversight

Studies demonstrate that concentrations of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, especially near production sites. But although international attention is growing, in India the matter is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in those standards. It’s not recognised by the Indian government currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have performed research in various regions. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still only a handful.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “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 chemical district is dependent on a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been frequently criticized.

“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 contaminated effluent directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have sent multiple notices to the site in the past few years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a plan to prohibit 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 issue should be examined, because the reality 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 influence that these multinationals have to move in countries where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to Pfas production are expected to impact populations that are facing an hazardous setting for years to come.

“The area has seen enough environmental destruction already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s always a risk.”