It was a proud day for Jawaharlal Nehru University as its alumnus Abhijit Banerjee won the Nobel Economics Prize on Monday, with his former professors saying they expected his contributions to the field would be recognised soon.

Indian-American Banerjee, his wife Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty."

Professor Anjan Mukherjee, who taught Banerjee at the Centre For Economic Studies and Planning, said he has sent his former student a congratulatory email.

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"I have sent him an email. He was a very good student, among the best that we have taught. We always expected that he would go far and he did.

"He has been at the forefront for many years. When his book came out in 2008, that is the time when we thought that he would get the Nobel. We were all hoping that he would get it," he told PTI.

Banerjee pursued his Masters in Economics from the university.

Indian-origin Abhijit Banerjee wins Economics Nobel

"There are not too many teachers in India who can say that they have produced a Nobel laureate. All of us at the Centre for Economics Studies and Planning can proudly say so," Mukherjee added.

JNU vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar also expressed pride at Banerjee's achievement.

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"Prof. Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, a JNU alumnus (MA in Economics, 1983) wins Nobel Prize (together with two fellow economists) for contributing towards alleviating global poverty. JNU is proud of his achievement. Our alumni are torch bearers of JNU. We are proud of them," he tweeted.