Aqueous two phase extraction was employed as an alternate method for the downstream processing of anthocyanins. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) 4000/magnesium sulphate (14.8%/10.3% w/w) was found to be the most suitable system. Tie line length of 32.61% and volume ratio of 0.73 have resulted in maximum partitioning of anthocyanins to the PEG-rich phase (yield - 98.19%) and sugars to the salt-rich phase (yield - 73.16%). Multistage aqueous two phase extraction resulted in an increase in removal of sugars (to about 96.5%) with 91.9% yield of anthocyanins. The phase forming polymer (PEG 4000) was successfully separated from anthocyanins employing organic-aqueous extraction resulting in 2.3 fold increase in the concentration of anthocyanins. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-Mass spectroscopy (MS)/MS was carried out to confirm the structural stability of anthocyanins. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.