Michael Portillo, chairman of the judges, said: "In many ways it was the perfect novel. The judges found the decision difficult because the shortlist contained such strong candidates."
"In the end, The White Tiger prevailed because the judges felt that it shocked and entertained in equal measure."
"The novel undertakes the extraordinarily difficult task of gaining and holding the reader's sympathy for a thoroughgoing villain. The book gains from dealing with pressing social issues and significant global developments with astonishing humour."
Portillo went on to explain that the novel had won overall because of 'its originality'. He said that The White Tiger presented 'a different aspect of India' and was a novel with 'enormous literary merit'.
Image: 2008 Booker Prize judges Michael Portillo, (L) James Heneage, (2nd L) Louise Doughty (2nd R) and Hardeep Singh Kohli (R) pose with six shortlisted books for the prize
Photograph: Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images
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