diff --git a/src/libs/blueprint/conduit_blueprint_mpi_mesh.cpp b/src/libs/blueprint/conduit_blueprint_mpi_mesh.cpp
index 5618799e8..be03802bb 100644
--- a/src/libs/blueprint/conduit_blueprint_mpi_mesh.cpp
+++ b/src/libs/blueprint/conduit_blueprint_mpi_mesh.cpp
@@ -120,6 +120,11 @@ generate_index(const conduit::Node &mesh,
                                                        index_out);
         }
     }
+
+    // broadcast the resulting index to all other ranks
+    relay::mpi::broadcast_using_schema(index_out,
+                                       selected_rank,
+                                       comm);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/tests/blueprint/t_blueprint_mpi_mesh_verify.cpp b/src/tests/blueprint/t_blueprint_mpi_mesh_verify.cpp
index 70ceb33d0..ec8588156 100644
--- a/src/tests/blueprint/t_blueprint_mpi_mesh_verify.cpp
+++ b/src/tests/blueprint/t_blueprint_mpi_mesh_verify.cpp
@@ -71,6 +71,9 @@ TEST(blueprint_mpi_smoke, ranks_with_no_mesh)
                                                       "",
                                                       bp_index["mesh"],
                                                       MPI_COMM_WORLD);
+
+        // all ranks should have index data.
+        EXPECT_TRUE(bp_index["mesh"].dtype().is_object());
     }
 }