News: McDonald's to open vegetarian restaurants in India

In 2013, McDonald's is planning to open its first vegetarian outlet in the hills near the Vaishno Devi, a holy Hindu temple in Jammu & Kashmir, India.

"We see a huge potential (for veg outlets) as, by nature, Indians are religious," says Vikram Bakshi, who manages McDonald's restaurants in east and north India as a joint venture partner of the US giant.

After Vaishno Devi, McDonald's plans to open a similar outlet near the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

McDonald's has 33,000 outlets across 119 countries, serving 69 million customers everyday, but nowhere else has McDonald's been so flexible with its menu as in India.

Worldwide, the beef-based Big Mac is McDonald's signature dish, but in India vegetable products account for half of its menu and sales. The indigenously developed popular (potato-based!) McAloo Tikki burger accounts for 25% of the company's total sales. And it plans more vegetarian items in its menu.