The genetic progress made on improved finger millet varieties through breeding in Ethiopia has not been assessed even though information about changes made is essential for understanding yield limiting factors and developing new strategies for future breeding programs. Thus, twenty finger millet varieties released in Ethiopia between 1999 and 2019 were used and tested in 2019 main cropping season at Adet and Finote-selam research sites using randomized complete block design with three replications. The objective was to estimate the genetic gain in grain yield and agro-morphological traits of finger millet varieties of Ethiopia. The analysis of variance revealed significant difference among varieties and locations for almost all traits. The overall increase in grain yield over the oldest varieties was estimated to be 449.03kg ha-1(22.49%) and 390.95kg ha-1(19.22%) at Adet and Finote-selam, respectively. The estimated annual and relative genetic gain was 30.88 kg ha-1year-1 and 1.55% year-1at Adet; and 24.39 kg ha-1year-1 and 1.2% year-1 at Finote-selam. This result implied that, improvement for grain yield was occurred over the last 20 years. Genotypic change was an important source for yield increment with parallel increase of significantly correlated traits. Stepwise regression analysis depicted that, biomass yield and harvest index together contributed 99.74 % and 99.42 % of the variation in grain yield at Adet and Finote-selam, respectively. In addition, number of tillers plant-1 and ears plant-1 contributed to the change in grain yield as they were highly correlated with year of release. Indeed, the change in grain yield potential was low as compared to the change made on other crops and its potential. Similarly, the progress in most important growth and yield related traits was not consistent and insignificant. Therefore, such gaps need attention in the future breeding efforts so as to exploit the genetic potential of finger millet. Key words: biomass, correlation, finger millet, genetic gain, grain yield, regression