diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/AsyncShardBatchFetch.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/AsyncShardBatchFetch.java
index 41cf0da434c4c..8a292e0925686 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/AsyncShardBatchFetch.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/AsyncShardBatchFetch.java
@@ -228,8 +228,9 @@ private void fillShardData(Map<ShardId, V> shardDataFromNode, Map<ShardId, Integ
                         if (isEmpty.apply(shardData.getValue())) {
                             this.emptyShardResponse[shardIdKey.get(shardId)] = true;
                             this.shardData[shardIdKey.get(shardId)] = null;
+                        } else {
+                            this.shardData[shardIdKey.get(shardId)] = shardData.getValue();
                         }
-                        this.shardData[shardIdKey.get(shardId)] = shardData.getValue();
                     }
                 }
             }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/AsyncShardFetch.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/AsyncShardFetch.java
index 29ec41beedd21..b664dd573ce67 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/AsyncShardFetch.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/AsyncShardFetch.java
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ public interface Lister<NodesResponse extends BaseNodesResponse<NodeResponse>, N
     protected final String type;
     protected final Map<ShardId, ShardAttributes> shardAttributesMap;
     private final Lister<BaseNodesResponse<T>, T> action;
-    protected AsyncShardFetchCache<T> cache;
+    protected final AsyncShardFetchCache<T> cache;
     private final AtomicLong round = new AtomicLong();
     private boolean closed;
     final String reroutingKey;
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShardsBatch.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShardsBatch.java
index 9886e8472422c..89362988b4d85 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShardsBatch.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShardsBatch.java
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ protected NodeGatewayStartedShardsBatch nodeOperation(NodeRequest request) {
                 );
             } catch (Exception e) {
                 // should return null in case of known exceptions being returned from getShardInfoOnLocalNode method.
-                if (e instanceof IllegalStateException || e.getMessage().contains(INDEX_NOT_FOUND)) {
+                if (e instanceof IllegalStateException || e.getMessage().contains(INDEX_NOT_FOUND) || e instanceof IOException) {
                     shardsOnNode.put(shardId, null);
                 } else {
                     // return actual exception as it is for unknown exceptions