6Rice production is severely threatened by drought stress in Eastern India. To develop drought tolerant 3 7 varieties, selection of donors for breeding programme is crucial. Twenty one selected rice genotypes including 3 8 both tolerant and sensitive to drought were grown under well-watered and drought stress conditions in dry 3 9 seasons of two successive years of 2017 and 2018. Leaf water potential, relative water content displayed 4 0 significant difference among the genotypes during vegetative screening. At reproductive stage drought 4 1 screening, days to 50% flowering was delayed in all genotypes except N22 and Anjali (showed early flowering) 4 2 however grain yield and other yield related traits decreased significantly compared to well-watered condition. 4 3 Correlation analysis of phenological and yield related traits with grain yield revealed that tiller numbers and 4 4 panicle numbers are highly correlated with grain yield both under well-watered and water stress conditions and 4 5 contributes maximum towards grain yield. The dendrogram grouped Mahamaya, Sahabhagidhan, Poornima, 4 6 IBD 1, Hazaridhan, Samleshwari and Danteshwari into one cluster which performed better under water stress 4 7 conditions and had grain yield more than 1.69 tha -1 . Sahabhagidhan, Poornima, Vandana, and N22 displayed 4 8 tolerance to drought both under vegetative and reproductive conditions which could be a good selection for the 4 9 breeders to develop drought tolerant rice cultivars for eastern region of India.5 0