diff --git a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
index f43042942de..c7f91ad004e 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
@@ -16982,7 +16982,9 @@ async def update_config(
             }
         )
         typed_router_settings: Final[Mapping[str, JsonValue]] = (
-            config_info.router_settings.model_dump(exclude_none=True) if config_info.router_settings is not None else {}
+            config_info.router_settings.model_dump(exclude_none=True, exclude_unset=True)
+            if config_info.router_settings is not None
+            else {}
         )
         router_settings_updates: Final[Mapping[str, JsonValue]] = {
             **typed_router_settings,
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/proxy_server/test_routes_config.py b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/proxy_server/test_routes_config.py
index e4d80c86f57..4234cdad23d 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/proxy_server/test_routes_config.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/proxy_server/test_routes_config.py
@@ -197,6 +197,29 @@ def test_config_update_persists_only_the_general_settings_keys_the_request_set(
     assert persisted == {"alerting_threshold": 600}
 
 
+def test_config_update_persists_only_the_router_settings_keys_the_request_set(
+    client, auth_as, mock_prisma, monkeypatch
+):
+    from litellm.proxy import proxy_server as ps
+    from litellm.proxy._types import LitellmUserRoles
+
+    table = _install_litellm_config(mock_prisma)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(ps, "prisma_client", mock_prisma)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(ps.proxy_config, "add_deployment", AsyncMock())
+    ps.proxy_config.router_settings.load_yaml({"model_group_alias": {"opus": "claude-opus-5"}})
+    try:
+        with auth_as(LitellmUserRoles.PROXY_ADMIN):
+            response = client.post(
+                "/config/update", json={"router_settings": {"retry_policy": {"TimeoutErrorRetries": 3}}}
+            )
+    finally:
+        ps.proxy_config.router_settings.load_yaml({})
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200, response.text
+    persisted = json.loads(table.upsert.call_args.kwargs["data"]["create"]["param_value"])
+    assert persisted == {"retry_policy": {"TimeoutErrorRetries": 3}}
+
+
 def test_config_update_accepts_a_config_owned_success_callback_the_file_spells_in_mixed_case(
     client, auth_as, mock_prisma, monkeypatch
 ):
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/test_router_retry_policy_update.py b/tests/test_litellm/test_router_retry_policy_update.py
index be568134763..0a3dcba325a 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/test_router_retry_policy_update.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/test_router_retry_policy_update.py
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@ async def test_config_update_persists_and_reads_back_retry_policy(monkeypatch):
 
     async def _apply_router_settings(*args, **kwargs):
         await proxy_server.proxy_config._add_router_settings_from_db_config(
-            config_data={}, llm_router=router, prisma_client=prisma_client
+            llm_router=router, prisma_client=prisma_client
         )
 
     monkeypatch.setattr(proxy_server, "prisma_client", prisma_client)