Kuttanad region is the largest agricultural area in the state of Kerala, India. The soil in this region is dark brown colored highly compressible clay with high organic content. Few studies are reported in this clay even though a significant number of substructure and embankment failures have occurred in the past. This paper presents the details and results of an experimental investigation conducted to study the influence of organic content on the physical and engineering properties of the Kuttanad clay. The test results showed that the organic content has considerable adverse effect on the geotechnical properties of this clay. Plasticity and compressibility characteristics were increased with increase in organic content. The shear strength of the clay was greatly decreased with increase in organic content. However negligible variation in maximum dry density was observed with increase in organic content. © 2011, ejge.