Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Monday said he was “very, very happy and delighted” that Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee had won the Nobel in economics.

Sen had won the same award in 1998 for his contribution to welfare economics.

Speaking to PTI from Boston, Sen said: “I’m very, very happy and delighted that Abhijit Banerjee along with others have been awarded with the Nobel for Economics.”

Banerjee, 58, won the prize with his wife Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for their “experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”.

He added: “I think that the prize has been given to the most competent persons.”