Demand for gold in India will likely hit its record high of 1,000 tonnes this year, according to the World Gold Council's fresh estimates.

As the Congress-led UPA government is struggling to curb gold imports to arrest the country's soaring current account deficit (CAD), the WGC expects gold demand to increase during the festival & wedding season in the second half of the current year.

WGC's India Managing Director Mr. Somasundaram said, "We've seen that demand is robust. Once the monsoon is over, rural incomes will rise and that will have its own impact on demand."

India, which is the world's biggest gold buyer, aims to keep its gold imports below 850 tonnes during the current year. The government has hiked import duty on gold imports three times in around eight months. Earlier this week, it banned purchase of gold bars & coins from foreign markets as part of its efforts to curb widening CAD.

But, India's demand for the precious yellow metal has so far offset the government's efforts to curb gold imports.

The WGC also predicted that China's demand for gold could also rise to its record-high of 1,000 tonnes this year.

In the April-June quarter, India's and China's demand for gold together accounted for around 60 per cent of total global gold demand.