MUMBAI - India's gold imports in May surged more than nine-fold from last year's low base to 12 tonnes, while vegetable oil imports in the month spiked 148% to a record $1.4 billion, a government source told Reuters on Wednesday.

The South Asian country is the world's second-biggest consumer of gold and the biggest importer of vegetable oils such as palm oil, sunflower oil and soyoil.

In value terms, May gold imports surged to $679.16 million from $76.31 million a year earlier, he said.

(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Himani Sarkar) ((rajendra.jadhav@thomsonreuters.com; +91-22-68414378 ; Reuters Messaging: rajendra.jadhav.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))