A numerical study has been conducted to examine the improvement achieved in the ultimate pullout capacity of horizontal circular anchor plates embedded in undrained clay, by constructing granular columns of varying diameter over the anchor plates. The analysis has been carried out by using lower bound theorem of limit analysis and finite elements in combination with linear programming. The improvement in uplifting capacity of anchor plate is expressed in terms of an efficiency factor (ξ). The efficiency factor (ξ) has been defined as the ratio of ultimate vertical pullout capacity of anchor plate having diameter D embedded in soft clay reinforced by granular column to the vertical pullout capacity of the anchor plate with same diameter D embedded in soft clay only. The variation of efficiency factor (ζ) for different embedment ratios and different diameter of granular column has been studied considering a wide range of softness of clay and different value of soil internal friction angle (φ) of the granular material. It is observed that ξ increases with an increase in diameter of the granular column (Dt) and increase in friction angle of granular material. Also, the effectiveness of the usage of granular column increases with decrease in cohesion of the clay.