By Rajendra Jadhav

MUMBAI, Oct 30 (Reuters) - India's gold demand in 2024 is likely to fall to its lowest in four years as a rally in prices to a record high is seen denting purchases during the peak festival season in the December quarter, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Wednesday.

Gold demand in the world's second-biggest consumer of the precious metal could stand between 700 and 750 metric tons in 2024, the lowest since 2020 and down from last year's 761 tons, Sachin Jain, CEO of WGC's Indian operations, told Reuters.

Demand for the precious metal usually spikes towards the end of the year in India, as buying gold for weddings and major festivals such as Diwali and Dussehra is considered auspicious.

But this year, many buyers advanced purchases to August after local prices fell sharply following New Delhi's reduction to the import duty by 9 percentage points in July, Jain said.

"Buyers are now waiting for prices to settle ... In volume terms demand would be lower this year during the festival season," he said.

Domestic prices of gold hit a record high of 79,700 rupees ($947) per 10 grams on Wednesday. They have risen 26% in 2024 after rising more than 10% in 2023.

Indian gold consumption in the July-September quarter rose 18% to 248.3 tons, as investment demand jumped 41% and jewellery demand increased 10% in the quarter, the WGC said.

India's physically backed gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have registered a sixth consecutive month of inflows in September and their holdings rose to 52.6 tons, up from 43.3 tons in January, WGC data showed.

"With a lot of liquidation happening in the stock market certainly there will be some inflow in this quarter from stock markets as well," Jain said.

India's NSE Nifty 50 share index has dropped about 7% from a record high hit on Sept. 27.

($1 = 84.0800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

((rajendra.jadhav@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: x.com/Rajendra1857))