McDonald's opened the world's first vegetarian McDonald's restaurant in India.
McDonald’s entered India in 1996 through a joint venture structure adapted to the country’s market and food traditions. Because many Indian customers avoid beef or pork for religious or cultural reasons, the company developed a menu with substantially more vegetarian choices than its standard Western menus.
The vegetarian restaurant opened in Amritsar in 2013, near the Golden Temple. It was described as the world’s first fully vegetarian McDonald’s restaurant. The location served items such as vegetarian burgers and potato-based products while excluding meat from its menu.
This fact is sometimes confused with McDonald’s broader Indian operations, which include both vegetarian and non-vegetarian restaurants. The distinction matters: the Amritsar site was notable because the entire restaurant was vegetarian, not merely because it offered vegetarian menu items.