Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the important cool season food legumes. Chickpea production isrnaffected by various abiotic and biotic constrains which penalize seed yields. Among them, drought is known torncause substantial reduction in the seed yield of the crop. This study was conducted to evaluate chickpearngenotypes for genetic parameters and drought tolerance. A total of 18 test chickpea genotypes (9 kabuli and 9rndesi) together with four checks (2 kabuli and 2 desi) were studied under moisture stress and non-stressrnconditions in pot experiments at Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center during 2009/2010. A randomizedrncomplete block design with three replications was used. Analysis of variance revealed significant geneticrnvariation among the genotypes for almost all the measured traits. Mean comparisons showed that genotype ICC-rn16798 produced higher seed yield under moisture stress and non-stress. Genotypic and phenotypic variancesrnwere high for biological yield followed by days to 50% flowering in both water levels. However, the maximumrngenotypic coefficient of variation was obtained for number of seeds and number of pods per plant underrnmoisture stress and non-stress conditions. Similarly, high phenotypic coefficient of variation was observed forrnseed yield followed by number of seed and number of pods per plant in both conditions. Broad sense heritabilityrnestimates ranged from medium to high. High heritability was recorded for 100 seed weight and days to 50%rnflowering. High heritability, coupled with high genetic advance values, was also observed for 100 seed weightrnand days to 50% flowering in both conditions. Moreover, there were significant positive correlation betweenrnseed yield with number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, harvest index and biological yield. It wasrnalso found that the correlations between seed yield with number of days to 50% flowering and days to 90%rnmaturity were negative and significant. Phenotypic path coefficient analysis revealed that harvest index andrnbiological yield had high positive direct effect on seed yield under both moisture stress and non-stressrnconditions. Similarly, multiple linear regression analysis showed that biological yield and harvest index haverncontributed significantly towards seed yield in non-stress condition. In stress condition, number of secondaryrnbranches, number of pods per plant, biological yield and harvest index have contributed significantly towardsrnseed yield. Multiple statistical analyses showed that considerable influences of harvest index and biologicalrnyield were common to both conditions. Therefore, selection pressure should be directed towards these traits tornimprove the seed yield stability across different water levels. Based on the yields of genotypes under moisturernnon-stress (YP) and stress (YS) conditions, several quantitative drought tolerance indices, mean productivityrn(MP), tolerance index (TOL), geometric mean productivity (GMP), harmonic mean (HARM), droughtrnsusceptibility index (DSI) and drought tolerance index (DTI) were used to evaluate drought responses of theserngenotypes. They showed that correlation coefficients of seed yield with geometric mean productivity, droughtrntolerance index and harmonic mean indices in both conditions were high and positively significant. Thesernrevealed that selection could be conducted for high values of GMP, DTI and HARM under both conditions forrnchickpea breeding programs to introduce high yielding and drought tolerant genotypes. According to thernindices and biplot analysis, it is concluded that ICC-16798, ICCRIL-04-0258, ICC-11198, ICC-2072, ICCRIL-rn03-0208 and ICCRIL-03-0177 genotypes were superior under both conditions.rnKey words/phrases: Chickpea, drought tolerance indices, heritability, path analysis