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Sixty nine pearlmillet germplasm entries of diverse origin were evaluated for seven quantitative characters and three qualitativecharacters for their per se performance, variability and genetic divergence. Wider variability was observed for fodder yield andits associating characters along with crude protein content. The GCV estimates were observed to be high for number of leavesper plant, number of tillers per plant, leaf area and green fodder yield. Heritability estimates were high for all the characters.Genetic advance as percentage of mean was high for number of leaves per plant followed by plant height, number of tillers per plant,leaf area, green fodder yield, dry fodder yield, crude protein content, crude fibre content and calcium content. By D2 analysis, thegenotypes were grouped into fifteen clusters. The character plant height contributed maximum to the genetic divergence.Cluster eleven with ten entries forms the largest cluster. Based on the average intercluster distance (D) the clusters V and XVwere found to be highly divergent from the other clusters. Selecting parents from these clusters and crossing them in a breedingprogramme might lead to creation of a wide spectrum of variation in the segregating population