Combining ability studies involving seven parents crossed in half diallel fashion revealed the presence of significantdifferences due to parents, hybrids and parents vs hybrids, indicating the presence of variability. The estimates of generalcombining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) variances indicated the presence of higher magnitude of nonadditive gene action for most of the characters. Considering the general combining ability effects of parents for days toflowering, maturity and grain yield, IS 31651 was good general combiner. The crosses BJV-44 x IS 26025, BJV-44 x IS31651, 104B x IS 31651, M35-1 x IS 26025 were identified promising for improving grain yield while crosses M35-1 x IS28614 and 104B x IS 26025 have been selected for breeding for earliness.