Where Will a European Chemical Plant Which Polluted Water Supplies Move On? Heading to India

The lush tropical forest and rust-red hills of Lote, located on India’s west coast, give way to a small hill where a factory looms under the open sky.

The factory is largely newly built, but its equipment is not: it originates from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following among the most severe ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for contaminating water sources in an area home to 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were convicted at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and other charges and given prison sentences, which they are expected to appeal against.

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Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its patents and processes – all required components to manufacture Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among local communities and wooded areas. And the factory has just started to resume PFAS production.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its expertise in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it left behind. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Numerous 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 ever recorded in human blood. “When the story came to light, I reviewed a list of medical conditions related to Pfas, and found out I had them all,” states Ermetti.

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

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and activist with Mamme No Pfas, started organizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests showed high levels of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s patents and machinery were being sent to India, she was stunned.

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

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a branch of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the public auction. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to shareholders. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s management downplayed ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity established in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and false accounting at the recent court case and sentenced to 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 company went bankrupt.

Although 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 intending to start producing fluorochemicals compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and become a leader in the manufacturing of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Logistics data indicate that, to secure validation on the standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out samples to firms with previous commercial ties with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, producing chemicals that will be used in pesticides, medicines, colorants, beauty products and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations have shown that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the environment are alarmingly high, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But even though international attention is increasing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is not present in those standards. It’s not recognised by the Indian government currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have performed research in various regions. But these studies are limited in scope, and there are still only a handful.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “has a dismal environmental track record”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood of fisher folk communities in this area completely collapsed,” she said.

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

“The local villages have consistently reported that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the plant cannot function and industries release polluted water directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have issued multiple notices to the plant in the past few years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a plan to prohibit the manufacture, importation and use of over ten thousand forever chemicals. This attention may be driving the sector to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the University of Padua. “I believe that this matter should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and machinery have been transferred to a country like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the power that these multinationals have to relocate in nations where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts associated with PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect communities that are facing 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.”