AMRITSAR, India – McDonald’s is opening a vegetarian-only restaurant in India, according to news reports.

McDonald’s is the second major fast-food chain to announce plans for a meat-free location. Subway, which has 280 units in India, announced in August plans to launch its first ever, all-vegetarian restaurant at Lovely Professional Univ., a private state university in Jalandhar, India.

McDonald's plans to open the restaurant by mid-2013, near the Golden Temple in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in northern India. Religious authorities forbid consumption of meat at the temple. Also religiously observant Hindus view cows as sacred and avoid beef, while Muslims view pigs as unclean and avoid pork.

News reports also said McDonald's plans to open a second vegetarian outlet in northwestern India, near the Vaishno Devi cave shrine in Kashmir. The shrine is a Hindu pilgrimage site that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.