diff --git a/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/io/HoodieMergeHandle.java b/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/io/HoodieMergeHandle.java
index 2e2a894f5e96c..b999cc6906406 100644
--- a/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/io/HoodieMergeHandle.java
+++ b/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/io/HoodieMergeHandle.java
@@ -265,6 +265,9 @@ private boolean writeUpdateRecord(HoodieRecord<T> hoodieRecord, GenericRecord ol
       if (oldRecord != record) {
         // the incoming record is chosen
         isDelete = HoodieOperation.isDelete(hoodieRecord.getOperation());
+      } else {
+        // the incoming record is dropped
+        return false;
       }
     }
     return writeRecord(hoodieRecord, indexedRecord, isDelete);