Fifty-two traditional aromatic rice genotypes of India were studied for genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance with respect to grain yield and 14 related traits. Considerable diversity was observed among these aromatic rice cultivars. Based on per se performance, the cultivar Punjab Basmati appeared as a promising genotype for earliness, long grain size and length/breadth ratio. Highest GCV was observed for grain yield per plant followed by high-density grain index. Heritability estimates was highest for plant height. D² analysis classified the fifty two genotypes into eight diverse clusters. The largest cluster included most of the indigenous aromatic fine-grained rice varieties of India. The maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster VI and VII followed by clusters III and VIII. Characters namely grain maturity duration, plant height and panicle weight contributed maximum towards divergence. On the basis of D2- inter cluster distance the cross namely; Lalmati (cluster VI) X HUR-BL-6AR (cluster VII) exhibiting contrasting differences for a large number of traits is expected result in desirable segregants on hybridization.