Finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] and foxtail millet [Setaria italica (L.) Beauv.] are important dual-purpose cereal crops in Africa and Asia. Their seeds can be used as food and feed and straw as fodder. Both the crops are hardy and tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses. Their seeds are rich in calcium, iron, protein, fats and minerals, having high biological value with good contents of cystine, tyrosine, tryptophan, and methionine. However, these crops have been neglected scientifically and commercially. ICRISAT has global responsibility of collection, conservation, and distribution of six small millets germplasm and holds in trust 10193 accessions (including 5949 finger millet, 1500 foxtail millets accessions) from 47 countries. Finger millet and foxtail millet germplasm collections have been characterized and representative core collections (622 finger millet, 155 foxtail millet) were developed for efficient and enhanced utilization of germplasm. Finger millet and foxtail millet core collections were evaluated for agronomic traits at ICRISAT Center, Patancheru, India during 2004 and 2005 rainy seasons, respectively. Significant genotypic variation was observed for grain yield and days to flowering in both core collections indicating the scope for selection for these traits. Cluster analysis using scores of first four principal components indicated that the selected agronomically superior 25 finger millet (16 early-maturing, 9 high-yielding) and foxtail millet (11 early-maturing, 14 high-yielding) accessions were diverse than the respective control cultivars. These early-maturing and high-yielding diverse lines would be useful in breeding broad-based finger millet and foxtail millet cultivars with early maturity and high yield.