By Dhwani Pandya and Praveen Paramasivam

MUMBAI/CHENNAI (Reuters) -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 v

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