Multi-nucleon transfer reactions 56Fe(12C, X) have been studied at an incident 12C energy of 60 MeV. Angular distributions of 10Be and 9Be corresponding to 2p and 2p1n transfer reactions in transition to low-lying states in the residual nuclei have been measured. The angular distribution data for 2p transfer have been analyzed in terms of finite range DWBA calculations assuming a one-step transfer of two protons. The spectroscopic factors for three low-lying transitions observed in 56Fe(12C, 10Be)58Ni have been extracted. Transfer probabilities for the ground state transition in two- and three-nucleon stripping channels have been obtained and compared with the corresponding sequential transfer probabilities in order to emphasize the role of direct transfer of nucleons vis-a-vis sequential transfer.