How Machinery From A Banned Italian Chemical Plant Found A Second Life In Maharashtra

A chemical factory operating in coastal Maharashtra is drawing scrutiny for reasons that stretch far beyond India’s borders. The machinery inside the plant, located in Ratnagiri district’s Lote Parashuram industrial area, once belonged to an Italian company shut down after one of Europe’s most serious industrial pollution scandals.

Now, amid political allegations and regulatory checks, the Indian operator insists it is running clean. In a recent exchange filing, Laxmi Organic said there is “no discharge of hazardous effluents into the environment” from its Lote facility and that operations comply with environmental norms.

The statement came as questions mounted over the plant’s origins and the nature of chemicals being produced there. Laxmi Organics is promoted by Harshvardhan Goenka, who also sits on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy.

The issue entered Maharashtra’s political arena after state legislator Rohit Pawar alleged that the plant is emitting PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) — and using machinery procured from Miteni, an Italian chemical company shut down after contaminating groundwater in northern Italy.

Pawar questioned why regulatory permissions were granted, particularly when India does not yet have specific laws governing PFAS.

Separately, an investigation by The Guardian traced the plant’s equipment, patents and production processes directly to Miteni, whose closure in 2018 followed decades of PFAS pollution in the Veneto region.

For years, Miteni operated in Vicenza, producing fluorochemicals that eventually seeped into the soil and water. In 2011, scientists detected exceptionally high concentrations of PFAS in the plant’s wastewater.

Subsequent investigations found that contamination had spread through groundwater, exposing an estimated 350,000 people to the chemicals via drinking water, The Guardian reported.

The health toll was significant. PFAS — often described as 'forever chemicals' because they do not break down — have been linked to cancers, cardiovascular disease, liver and kidney damage, immune system disruption and reproductive disorders.

Some former Miteni workers recorded among the highest PFAS concentrations ever measured in human blood.

After prolonged legal and environmental scrutiny, the plant was shut down in 2018.

In June 2024, an Italian court in Vicenza convicted former Miteni executives of environmental pollution and false accounting, handing down prison sentences that are expected to be appealed, according to the report.

Miteni later went bankrupt, and in 2019 its assets — including machinery, patents and technical know-how — were auctioned. Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of Laxmi Organic, emerged as the sole bidder.

By early 2023, the dismantled equipment had been shipped to Mumbai and transported to Lote Parashuram, around 225 km south of the city.

Since early 2025, the facility has been operational. According to the publication, the plant is positioned to supply chemicals used in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, dyes and cosmetics.

Shareholder meeting transcripts reviewed by The Guardian show the company described the acquisition as a strategic expansion into fluorochemicals, stating that Miteni had operated “legally according to European standards.”

In a post on X, Pawar said PFAS released by Miteni had contaminated a reservoir in Italy, affecting more than three lakh people. He alleged the same machinery is now being used in Ratnagiri.

Maharashtra industries minister Uday Samant said he sought a report from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board after media reports.

He said the MPCB informed him that PFAS have not been manufactured at the plant so far and that a notice has been issued to the company. Authorities are also verifying whether the imported machinery had the necessary clearances.

In its exchange filing, Laxmi Organic reiterated that there is no discharge of hazardous effluents from the facility, but did not address the provenance of the machinery or whether PFAS production has commenced.