diff --git a/cmd/kubectl/go.mod b/cmd/kubectl/go.mod
index 8bdfa40ff..aee17a388 100644
--- a/cmd/kubectl/go.mod
+++ b/cmd/kubectl/go.mod
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ go 1.13
 
 require (
 	github.com/spf13/cobra v0.0.5
+	k8s.io/api v0.17.0
 	k8s.io/apimachinery v0.17.0
 	k8s.io/cli-runtime v0.17.0
 	k8s.io/client-go v0.17.0
diff --git a/cmd/kubectl/kubectlcobra/grouping.go b/cmd/kubectl/kubectlcobra/grouping.go
index c7bd92fc1..4b11bee51 100644
--- a/cmd/kubectl/kubectlcobra/grouping.go
+++ b/cmd/kubectl/kubectlcobra/grouping.go
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ package kubectlcobra
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"hash/fnv"
+	"sort"
+	"strconv"
 
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
@@ -13,7 +16,10 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/cli-runtime/pkg/resource"
 )
 
-const GroupingLabel = "kustomize.k8s.io/group-id"
+const (
+	GroupingLabel = "kustomize.config.k8s.io/inventory-id"
+	GroupingHash  = "kustomize.config.k8s.io/inventory-hash"
+)
 
 // isGroupingObject returns true if the passed object has the
 // grouping label.
@@ -102,11 +108,30 @@ func addInventoryToGroupingObj(infos []*resource.Info) error {
 	if groupingObj == nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("Grouping object not found")
 	}
-	err := unstructured.SetNestedStringMap(groupingObj.UnstructuredContent(), inventoryMap, "data")
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
 
+	if len(inventoryMap) > 0 {
+		// Adds the inventory map to the ConfigMap "data" section.
+		err := unstructured.SetNestedStringMap(groupingObj.UnstructuredContent(),
+			inventoryMap, "data")
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		// Adds the hash of the inventory strings as an annotation to the
+		// grouping object. Inventory strings must be sorted to make hash
+		// deterministic.
+		inventoryList := mapKeysToSlice(inventoryMap)
+		sort.Strings(inventoryList)
+		invHash, err := calcInventoryHash(inventoryList)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		annotations := groupingObj.GetAnnotations()
+		if annotations == nil {
+			annotations = map[string]string{}
+		}
+		annotations[GroupingHash] = strconv.FormatUint(uint64(invHash), 16)
+		groupingObj.SetAnnotations(annotations)
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -143,3 +168,46 @@ func retrieveInventoryFromGroupingObj(infos []*resource.Info) ([]*Inventory, err
 	}
 	return inventory, nil
 }
+
+// calcInventoryHash returns an unsigned int32 representing the hash
+// of the inventory strings. If there is an error writing bytes to
+// the hash, then the error is returned; nil is returned otherwise.
+// Used to quickly identify the set of resources in the grouping object.
+func calcInventoryHash(inv []string) (uint32, error) {
+	h := fnv.New32a()
+	for _, is := range inv {
+		_, err := h.Write([]byte(is))
+		if err != nil {
+			return uint32(0), err
+		}
+	}
+	return h.Sum32(), nil
+}
+
+// retrieveInventoryHash takes a grouping object (encapsulated by
+// a resource.Info), and returns the string representing the hash
+// of the grouping inventory; returns empty string if the grouping
+// object is not in Unstructured format, or if the hash annotation
+// does not exist.
+func retrieveInventoryHash(groupingInfo *resource.Info) string {
+	var invHash = ""
+	groupingObj, ok := groupingInfo.Object.(*unstructured.Unstructured)
+	if ok {
+		annotations := groupingObj.GetAnnotations()
+		if annotations != nil {
+			invHash = annotations[GroupingHash]
+		}
+	}
+	return invHash
+}
+
+// mapKeysToSlice returns the map keys as a slice of strings.
+func mapKeysToSlice(m map[string]string) []string {
+	s := make([]string, len(m))
+	i := 0
+	for k := range m {
+		s[i] = k
+		i++
+	}
+	return s
+}
diff --git a/cmd/kubectl/kubectlcobra/grouping_test.go b/cmd/kubectl/kubectlcobra/grouping_test.go
index 2aa957072..71dfabaeb 100644
--- a/cmd/kubectl/kubectlcobra/grouping_test.go
+++ b/cmd/kubectl/kubectlcobra/grouping_test.go
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ package kubectlcobra
 import (
 	"testing"
 
+	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
@@ -90,6 +92,28 @@ var pod3Info = &resource.Info{
 	Object:    &pod3,
 }
 
+var nonUnstructuredGroupingObj = &corev1.ConfigMap{
+	ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+		Namespace: testNamespace,
+		Name:      groupingObjName,
+		Labels: map[string]string{
+			GroupingLabel: "true",
+		},
+	},
+}
+
+var nonUnstructuredGroupingInfo = &resource.Info{
+	Namespace: testNamespace,
+	Name:      groupingObjName,
+	Object:    nonUnstructuredGroupingObj,
+}
+
+var nilInfo = &resource.Info{
+	Namespace: testNamespace,
+	Name:      groupingObjName,
+	Object:    nil,
+}
+
 func TestIsGroupingObject(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		obj        runtime.Object
@@ -249,6 +273,14 @@ func TestAddRetrieveInventoryToFromGroupingObject(t *testing.T) {
 			isError: true,
 		},
 		// Grouping object without other objects is OK.
+		{
+			infos:   []*resource.Info{groupingInfo, nilInfo},
+			isError: true,
+		},
+		{
+			infos:   []*resource.Info{nonUnstructuredGroupingInfo},
+			isError: true,
+		},
 		{
 			infos:    []*resource.Info{groupingInfo},
 			expected: []*Inventory{},
@@ -266,6 +298,7 @@ func TestAddRetrieveInventoryToFromGroupingObject(t *testing.T) {
 			expected: []*Inventory{},
 			isError:  true,
 		},
+		// Basic test case: one grouping object, one pod.
 		{
 			infos: []*resource.Info{groupingInfo, pod1Info},
 			expected: []*Inventory{
@@ -414,6 +447,15 @@ func TestAddRetrieveInventoryToFromGroupingObject(t *testing.T) {
 						t.Errorf("Expected inventory (%s) not found", expected)
 					}
 				}
+				// If the grouping object has an inventory, check the
+				// grouping object has an inventory hash.
+				groupingInfo, exists := findGroupingObject(test.infos)
+				if exists && len(test.expected) > 0 {
+					invHash := retrieveInventoryHash(groupingInfo)
+					if len(invHash) == 0 {
+						t.Errorf("Grouping object missing inventory hash")
+					}
+				}
 			}
 		}
 	}