McDonald's, Bollywood, cricket fuel wellness craze in India

Country witnessing huge demand for protein-loaded products

- DHWANI PANDYA & PRAVEEN PARAMASIVAM

At McDonald's outlets in south India, a 30-cent burger topping has been selling out fast. It's not extra cheese or a fancy salsa dip, but a vegetarian protein slice developed with Indian government food scientists—the brand's first such offering globally.

McDonald's has joined India's biggest dairy Amul, a slew of startups and a company backed by Bollywood superstar Ranveer Singh to unleash a marketing blitz with celebrity chefs and cricketers promoting protein as a daily nutrition need for young and old, not just a gym fad.

Ordering kiosks at the Golden Arches do not mention calories but lure consumers by flashing the high protein in burgers, tapping into a sudden craze in a nation with the world's highest number of vegetarians and low meat consumption.