diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequest.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequest.java
index 5351579278db5..843e718a94e2c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequest.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequest.java
@@ -48,9 +48,10 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Objects;
-import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+import java.util.Set;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.action.ValidateActions.addValidationError;
 
@@ -73,6 +74,7 @@ public class BulkRequest extends ActionRequest implements CompositeIndicesReques
      * the one with the least casts.
      */
     final List<DocWriteRequest> requests = new ArrayList<>();
+    private final Set<String> indices = new HashSet<>();
     List<Object> payloads = null;
 
     protected TimeValue timeout = BulkShardRequest.DEFAULT_TIMEOUT;
@@ -114,6 +116,7 @@ public BulkRequest add(DocWriteRequest request, @Nullable Object payload) {
         } else {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("No support for request [" + request + "]");
         }
+        indices.add(request.index());
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -145,6 +148,7 @@ BulkRequest internalAdd(IndexRequest request, @Nullable Object payload) {
         addPayload(payload);
         // lack of source is validated in validate() method
         sizeInBytes += (request.source() != null ? request.source().length() : 0) + REQUEST_OVERHEAD;
+        indices.add(request.index());
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -172,6 +176,7 @@ BulkRequest internalAdd(UpdateRequest request, @Nullable Object payload) {
         if (request.script() != null) {
             sizeInBytes += request.script().getIdOrCode().length() * 2;
         }
+        indices.add(request.index());
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -187,6 +192,7 @@ public BulkRequest add(DeleteRequest request, @Nullable Object payload) {
         requests.add(request);
         addPayload(payload);
         sizeInBytes += REQUEST_OVERHEAD;
+        indices.add(request.index());
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -548,4 +554,10 @@ public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
         refreshPolicy.writeTo(out);
         timeout.writeTo(out);
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public String getDescription() {
+        return "requests[" + requests.size() + "], indices[" + Strings.collectionToDelimitedString(indices, ", ") + "]";
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkShardRequest.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkShardRequest.java
index 25366d034ca04..d53e9f8997ef7 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkShardRequest.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkShardRequest.java
@@ -100,6 +100,11 @@ public String toString() {
         return b.toString();
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public String getDescription() {
+        return "requests[" + items.length + "], index[" + index + "]";
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void onRetry() {
         for (BulkItemRequest item : items) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/node/tasks/TasksIT.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/node/tasks/TasksIT.java
index 994cb3b430813..7f490ebab9050 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/node/tasks/TasksIT.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/node/tasks/TasksIT.java
@@ -303,7 +303,9 @@ public void testTransportBulkTasks() {
         client().prepareBulk().add(client().prepareIndex("test", "doc", "test_id").setSource("{\"foo\": \"bar\"}")).get();
 
         // the bulk operation should produce one main task
-        assertEquals(1, numberOfEvents(BulkAction.NAME, Tuple::v1));
+        List<TaskInfo> topTask = findEvents(BulkAction.NAME, Tuple::v1);
+        assertEquals(1, topTask.size());
+        assertEquals("requests[1], indices[test]", topTask.get(0).getDescription());
 
         // we should also get 1 or 2 [s] operation with main operation as a parent
         // in case the primary is located on the coordinating node we will have 1 operation, otherwise - 2
@@ -317,17 +319,20 @@ public void testTransportBulkTasks() {
             shardTask = shardTasks.get(0);
             // and it should have the main task as a parent
             assertParentTask(shardTask, findEvents(BulkAction.NAME, Tuple::v1).get(0));
+            assertEquals("requests[1], index[test]", shardTask.getDescription());
         } else {
             if (shardTasks.get(0).getParentTaskId().equals(shardTasks.get(1).getTaskId())) {
                 // task 1 is the parent of task 0, that means that task 0 will control [s][p] and [s][r] tasks
                  shardTask = shardTasks.get(0);
                 // in turn the parent of the task 1 should be the main task
                 assertParentTask(shardTasks.get(1), findEvents(BulkAction.NAME, Tuple::v1).get(0));
+                assertEquals("requests[1], index[test]", shardTask.getDescription());
             } else {
                 // otherwise task 1 will control [s][p] and [s][r] tasks
                 shardTask = shardTasks.get(1);
                 // in turn the parent of the task 0 should be the main task
                 assertParentTask(shardTasks.get(0), findEvents(BulkAction.NAME, Tuple::v1).get(0));
+                assertEquals("requests[1], index[test]", shardTask.getDescription());
             }
         }