A 70-YEAR-OLD Indian woman has become the worlds oldest mum after giving birth to twins.

Omkari Panwar, the wife of a retired farmer, delivered a boy and girl by caesarean section on Friday.

The frail pensioner, who has two adult daughters and five grandchildren, underwent IVF treatment to produce a male heir to the familys smallholdings.

Mum ... Omkari Panwar, 70

Her husband, Charan Singh Panwar, 77, mortgaged his land, sold his buffalos, spent his life savings and took out a credit card loan to finance the treatment.

At last we have a son and heir, he said. We prayed to God, went to saints and visited religious places to pray for an heir.

We kept no stone unturned and God has rewarded us. The treatment cost me a fortune but the birth of a son makes it all worthwhile. I can die a happy man and a proud father.

Record

The twins, born one-month premature and weighing only two pounds each are healthy and expected to survive, according to doctors at Jaswant Roy Speciality Hospital.

Family ... Omkari and relatives

Omkari, who has no birth certificate and does not know the day she was born, uses the date of Indias independence in 1947 to guess her age.

She said she was nine when the British Raj left India meaning she is now 70.

She lives in Muzaffarnagar, seven hours drive north of the capital New Delhi.

Romanian Adriana Iliescu, who gave birth to a daughter, aged 66 in 2005, is the worlds previous oldest mother.

After being told she had beaten the record by four years, Omkari said: If I am the worlds oldest mother it means nothing to me. I just want to see my new babies and care for them while I am still able.

Gynaecologist Nisha Malik, who performed an emergency operation on the 70-year-old said: I was shocked when this old lady told me she was pregnant. I have been practising medicine for 20 years and I have never heard of such a case.