A field experiment was conducted to study the soil moisture utilization, water use efficiency (WUE), relative water content (RWC), proline accumulation and their impact on seed yield and drought tolerance in safflower. It was observed that the soil moisture depletion was maximum at 90 DAS in all the genotypes. The accumulation of free proline increased with an advance in crop age and was found to be associated with decrease in RWC and soil moisture. The maximum WUE was observed between 60-90 DAS in all genotypes, except US-104 for which it was maximum at 90 DAS and harvest. The total dry matter was maximum in A-1 and US-104. Though, US-104 recorded higher dry matter, its seed yield was low as compared to A-1, indicating the differential yielding ability of genotypes