Heterosis and combining ability studies were conducted on selected chickpea minicore accessions in order to acquire an understanding of the predominant type of gene action governing number of pods per plant (PPP) and seed weight (SDWT), to estimate the magnitude of heterosis, to estimate combining ability effects and to assess correlation between per se performance and general combining ability (GCA) for the parents under a rainfed environment where pod number and seed weight are considered to be an important traits for enhancing chickpea productivity. The experimental material comprised 48 F1s obtained by crossing 12 productive genotypes as females to four testers as males in a line x tester design. The GCA variances were significant and of a high magnitude, while specific combining ability (SCA) variances were non-significant, indicating the predominant role of additive gene action on seed weight and yield. A large number of crosses showed positive mid-parent heterosis (MPH) and better parent heterosis (BPH). The average MPH and BPH for PPP was 16.7 and 8.5, respectively, and the average MPH and BPH for the SDWT was 25.8 and 2.8, respectively. The higher magnitude of the MPH and BPH recorded for SDWT indicated that the scope for increasing the seed yield in chickpea in a rainfed environment, is limited and that further increase in productivity have to come mainly through enhanced PPP. The majority of the heterotic crosses involved poor x good combiners. This study demonstrates that in order to achieve greater progress in improving PPP and the SDWT in chickpea, the selection of parents should be based on per se performance as well as combining ability and heterosis.