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The rearing of chicken in India has undergone a drastic change from backyard production to commercial intensive farming. This has led to the use of antibiotics in therapy, metaphylaxis and as growth promoters. Escherichia coli are commensals that inhabit the gut of man and animals. The detection of virulent pathotypes of E. coli in chicken is a huge threat to human health. The present study assessed 200 retail chicken sold in central Kerala for the presence of virulent E. coli and studied the tetracycline susceptibility followed by detection of tetA and tetB gene. E. coli was detected in 64 per cent of the samples. The virulence genes, eaeA and aggR were detected in 52.2 and 3.9 per cent of the E. coli isolates, respectively. Tetracycline resistance by antibiotic susceptibility testing (ABST) was found in 30.84 per cent of the virulent isolates. The tetracycline efflux pump protein coding genes, tetA and tetB were detected in 56.67 and 25 per cent, respectively. The detection of drug resistant bacteria is a threat to public health as tetracycline is classified as a highly important antibiotic in human medicine.