Water status is one of the critical factors affecting rice production. Rice cultivars tolerant to drought stress at the vegetative stage under field conditions were selected. Seven rice cultivars, namely, KDML 105, IR58821, CT9993, IR62266, IR57514, IR52561 and BT, were included in this study. The plant height, number of tillers per plant, leaf rolling, leaf death, leaf water potential, relative leaf water content and proline content in plants subjected to drought stress for 0, 20 and 60 days were recorded. Based upon the levels of water stress tolerance, three groups of rice cultivars were recognized, as follows: highly drought-tolerant, moderately drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive cultivars. The CT9993 rice cultivar was considered to be a highly drought-tolerant cultivar. The moderately drought-tolerant cultivars included KDML 105, IR58821, IR57514, IR52561 and BT. The IR62266 cultivar was considered sensitive to drought.