diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunner.java b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunner.java
index 41284620bef..6251980fc21 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunner.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunner.java
@@ -546,14 +546,16 @@ public class IndexLifecycleRunner {
     private static IndexMetaData.Builder removePolicyForIndex(IndexMetaData indexMetadata) {
         Settings idxSettings = indexMetadata.getSettings();
         Settings.Builder newSettings = Settings.builder().put(idxSettings);
+        boolean notChanged = true;
 
-        newSettings.remove(LifecycleSettings.LIFECYCLE_NAME_SETTING.getKey());
-        newSettings.remove(LifecycleSettings.LIFECYCLE_SKIP_SETTING.getKey());
-        newSettings.remove(RolloverAction.LIFECYCLE_ROLLOVER_ALIAS_SETTING.getKey());
+        notChanged &= Strings.isNullOrEmpty(newSettings.remove(LifecycleSettings.LIFECYCLE_NAME_SETTING.getKey()));
+        notChanged &= Strings.isNullOrEmpty(newSettings.remove(LifecycleSettings.LIFECYCLE_SKIP_SETTING.getKey()));
+        notChanged &= Strings.isNullOrEmpty(newSettings.remove(RolloverAction.LIFECYCLE_ROLLOVER_ALIAS_SETTING.getKey()));
+        long newSettingsVersion = notChanged ? indexMetadata.getSettingsVersion() : 1 + indexMetadata.getSettingsVersion();
 
         IndexMetaData.Builder builder = IndexMetaData.builder(indexMetadata);
         builder.removeCustom(ILM_CUSTOM_METADATA_KEY);
-        return builder.settings(newSettings).settingsVersion(1 + indexMetadata.getSettingsVersion());
+        return builder.settings(newSettings).settingsVersion(newSettingsVersion);
     }
 
     private void markPolicyDoesNotExist(String policyName, Index index, LifecycleExecutionState executionState) {