McDonald's India

McDonald's first Indian outlet opened at Basant Lok, Delhi in October 1996. Thirty years later the chain operates roughly 500 restaurants across India — and not a single one is owned by an individual franchisee. McDonald's Corporation structured its India entry around the Master Franchise Agreement (MFA) model: one master per region, no sub-franchising allowed.

The two masters are Westlife Foodworld Ltd (NSE: WESTLIFE) — formerly Westlife Development / Hardcastle Restaurants, operating roughly 400 stores across West and South India — and Connaught Plaza Restaurants Ltd (CPRL), operating the North and East. After the long-running Vikram Bakshi v. McDonald's India litigation (CPRL governance dispute, 2013-2019, settled via Supreme Court / NCLT), CPRL is now wholly owned by McDonald's Corp's Indian subsidiary. The Bakshi case made the structure publicly visible: even master franchisees have no contractual right to sub-franchise.

For a prospective franchisee, the practical takeaway is simple: the search query "McDonald's India franchise cost" has no honest answer because the product doesn't exist. No application, no fee, no franchise agreement. Aggregator listicles claiming otherwise are using McDonald's brand recognition to capture lead-form fills with no fulfilment path. What does exist is a competitive set of QSR and F&B brands operating in the ₹25 lakh – 1 crore entry-capex band with verified franchise programs, published unit economics and disclosed royalty terms. The six brands in the F&B column above are the closest like-for-like alternatives.

If a broker, listing site or "consultant" offers you a McDonald's India franchise, the safest assumption is that you're being sold a lookalike, a shell, or a paid-listing fiction. Report it to [email protected] and we'll add it to the fraud register.

Sources: Westlife Foodworld FY24 annual report (NSE: WESTLIFE) · CPRL filings (post-2019 settlement) · McDonald's India official press releases · FRANticc independent store-count verification.