Abstract The Elchuru alkaline complex in the Prakasam igneous province represents one occurrence of several alkaline bodies within the craton–Eastern Ghats Belt contact zone in Peninsular India. Nepheline syenites and associated mafic rocks intruded the cratonic crust at ≈1321 Ma and were deformed–metamorphosed to amphibolite facies condition during Pan-African times. Trace element compositions and Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic systematics indicate that the alkaline magma was derived from an enriched mantle source in the sub-continental lithosphere. The adjacent crusts of the Eastern Dharwar craton and the Eastern Ghats Belt were not involved either as source or as contaminants. The enriched mantle source was at least 1.9–2.1 Ga old as seen from the depleted mantle model ages of the rocks. The primary parent magma was a basanitic liquid that fractionated ferrokaersutite and clinopyroxene in the mantle, lowering the density sufficiently for the residual melt to intrude the crust. Magmatic differentiation in the suite can be explained by a two stage fractional crystallization model involving the removal of amphibole, clinopyroxene, allanite, titanite, apatite and zircon. The rift-related intra-continental setting of the complex indicates that alkaline magmatism represents the manifestation of a Mesoproterozoic continental breakup. Rifting along the cratonic margin may have led to the formation of several cratogenic basins (e.g., Chattisgarh basin, Indravati basin etc.) where stable shelf-type sediments could have been deposited on the passive margin during the Proterozoic. It could also have opened an ocean where some of the sediments of the Eastern Ghats Province may have been deposited.