Nine MS lines and four elite restorers of pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.]were crossed in line x tester mating design during kharif, 2009. The resulting 36 crosses along with 13 parents and 2 check hybrids were evaluated in Randomized Block Design with 3 replications at ARS, Bikaner during kharif, 2010. Results revealed significant differences due to treatments, parents, crosses, parents vs. crosses and line x tester interaction for all the five characters except parents for dry fodder yield and grain yield. Ratio of gca and sca variances clearly indicated the pre-dominant role of non-additive gene action for all the characters except ear length. Among the female parents, ICMA 93333 was best general combiner for grain yield (4.09), dry fodder yield (6.80) and ear length (1.56). ICMA 92777 appeared to be the best general combiner for days to maturity. Among the males, BIB-6 was the best general combiner for grain yield and also had significantly desirable gca effects for dry fodder yield and plant height .The male parent, BIB-5 appeared to be the best general combiner for days to maturity. GCA effects varied significantly for different characters and different parents. None of the female or male parents possessed good combining ability uniformly for all the characters. However, the parents had high per se performance for grain yield, indicating good correspondence between high gca effects for grain yield. ICMA 93333 x BIB 7 was the best specific combination for grain yield. This cross exhibited 45.83 % superiority over the best check hybrid HHB 67 improved. in terms of grain yield. Other combinations viz., ICMA 92777 x BIB-6, RMS 7A x BIB-8, RMS 18A x BIB-7, ICMA 843A x BIB-8 and ICMA 99222 x BIB-8 also had high and desirable sca effects for grain yield. These crosses exhibited 31.94, 18.06, 18.06, 3.02, and 21.54 % superiority over the best check hybrid for grain yield. Nevertheless, the sca effects of these crosses were desirable for earliness. It was also observed that more than 16 % of the combinations had significant and desirable sca effects for earliness and grain yield. This indicated potential for exploiting hybrid vigor for earliness coupled with high grain yield in pearl millet for enhancing production in arid zone.