diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
index 8a9c12f9f4c74..2aeeef57996d4 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
@@ -767,9 +767,6 @@ public void endVerification(String seed) {
     public RepositoryData getRepositoryData() {
         try {
             return getRepositoryData(latestIndexBlobId());
-        } catch (NoSuchFileException ex) {
-            // repository doesn't have an index blob, its a new blank repo
-            return RepositoryData.EMPTY;
         } catch (IOException ioe) {
             throw new RepositoryException(metadata.name(), "Could not determine repository generation from root blobs", ioe);
         }
@@ -782,17 +779,12 @@ private RepositoryData getRepositoryData(long indexGen) {
         try {
             final String snapshotsIndexBlobName = INDEX_FILE_PREFIX + Long.toString(indexGen);
 
-            RepositoryData repositoryData;
             // EMPTY is safe here because RepositoryData#fromXContent calls namedObject
             try (InputStream blob = blobContainer().readBlob(snapshotsIndexBlobName);
                  XContentParser parser = XContentType.JSON.xContent().createParser(NamedXContentRegistry.EMPTY,
                      LoggingDeprecationHandler.INSTANCE, blob)) {
-                repositoryData = RepositoryData.snapshotsFromXContent(parser, indexGen);
+                return RepositoryData.snapshotsFromXContent(parser, indexGen);
             }
-            return repositoryData;
-        } catch (NoSuchFileException ex) {
-            // repository doesn't have an index blob, its a new blank repo
-            return RepositoryData.EMPTY;
         } catch (IOException ioe) {
             throw new RepositoryException(metadata.name(), "could not read repository data from index blob", ioe);
         }