diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/index/IndexRequest.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/index/IndexRequest.java
index eba135179410d..bda6ae5ea46e0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/index/IndexRequest.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/index/IndexRequest.java
@@ -779,6 +779,9 @@ public HttpEntity getBulkEntity() throws IOException {
         if (Strings.hasLength(parent)) {
             actionMetadata.put("parent", parent);
         }
+        if (Strings.hasLength(routing)) {
+            actionMetadata.put("routing", routing);
+        }
         payload.put(opType.name().toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT), actionMetadata);
         String json = XContentHelper.convertToJson(payload, false);