AbstractA total of sixty‐six germplasm lines were crossed with five CMS lines, where two belong to A4 cytoplasm, while other three belong to A2 cytoplasm. On the basis of pollen fertility test as well as good pod setting, of 330 hybrids, 34 restorer lines were observed in ICPA 2043 and 19 in ICPA 2092. Thirteen germplasm lines restored fertility in both the A4 CMS lines, viz. ICPA 2043 and ICPA 2092; however, none of the lines restored fertility in A2 CMS lines. For confirmation of result, restoration competence of identified lines tested subsequently 2 years at two different temperatures. The segregation patterns for fertility restoration studied in F2 and BC1F1 generations of selected ten crosses. Six crosses indicated the involvement of two major genes with recessive epistasis, three crosses confirmed dominant epistasis, and one cross indicated the involvement of duplicate recessive epistasis. The obtained results from this study will hasten the future three‐line breeding programme and lead the hybrid technology to the farmers' field with the better exploitation of CMS lines.