Electron cyclotron current drive by electron Bernstein (EB) waves for the start-up and ramp-up of toroidal plasma current with no central solenoid in tokamaks is discussed. It is shown that high N// EB waves have ability to ramp-up the current against the counter voltage from self-induction, where N// is the parallel refractive index to the magnetic field, and they are especially suitable for initial current start-up phase where the bulk electron temperature is low enough to ensure high N// EB waves. © 2009 The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan.