Global food security is one of the pre-requisites for the survival and development of mankind on earth. Agriculture plays a significant role in the economic expansion. But drought is an important abiotic constraint affecting crops growth and development. Plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) are the group of bacteria with multi-trait plant growth promotion capabilities and have the potential to work under various environmental constraints efficiently. Current study was conducted to evaluate the defensive role of PGPB in plant growth when subjected to drought stress. The molecular identification of plant growth promoting bacteria isolated from rhizosphere and phylosphere of Triticum aestivum L. was conducted followed by the evaluation of their potential to stimulate growth under water deficit and normal irrigation conditions. The results indicated that the drought stress leads to reduction in gemination percentage, shoot length, number of leaves, rate of photosynthesis and alter the root architecture. The application of PGPB resulted in favorable impact on these growth parameters. The higher level of proline content and better antioxidant defense system was also recorded in bacterially treated plants under drought stress. Moreover, the expression of eleven genes (TawRKY1, PR1.1, PR1.2, PR2, TaWRKY72, TawRKY2, JAZ, Lipase, TaOPR1, Chi3 and ZAT11) involved in the jasmonic acid signaling pathway and pathogenesis have been assessed in both treated and control plants reveals that various pathogenesis related genes were down regulated under water deficit conditions due to bacterial inoculation. Hence, vigorous growth and higher drought tolerance was recorded in plants due to bacterial inoculation.