diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index e3eadbf769..1a7a4aceb5 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -252,6 +252,7 @@ Patches have also been contributed by:
   Sebastian Wiedenroth <wiedi@frubar.net>
   Ata E Husain Bohra   <ata.husain@hotmail.com>
   Ján Tomko            <jtomko@redhat.com>
+  Richa Marwaha        <rmarwah@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
 
   [....send patches to get your name here....]
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 85c49a2702..82a2870531 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -169,6 +169,8 @@ VIR_ENUM_IMPL(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_LAST,
               "virtio-s390",
               "balloon-event",
 
+              "bridge", /* 100 */
+
     );
 
 struct qemu_feature_flags {
@@ -1020,7 +1022,7 @@ qemuCapsComputeCmdFlags(const char *help,
                         bool check_yajl ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
 {
     const char *p;
-    const char *fsdev;
+    const char *fsdev, *netdev;
 
     if (strstr(help, "-no-kqemu"))
         qemuCapsSet(flags, QEMU_CAPS_KQEMU);
@@ -1133,13 +1135,16 @@ qemuCapsComputeCmdFlags(const char *help,
     if (strstr(help, "-smbios type"))
         qemuCapsSet(flags, QEMU_CAPS_SMBIOS_TYPE);
 
-    if (strstr(help, "-netdev")) {
+    if ((netdev = strstr(help, "-netdev"))) {
         /* Disable -netdev on 0.12 since although it exists,
          * the corresponding netdev_add/remove monitor commands
          * do not, and we need them to be able to do hotplug.
          * But see below about RHEL build. */
-        if (version >= 13000)
-            qemuCapsSet(flags, QEMU_CAPS_NETDEV);
+        if (version >= 13000) {
+            if (strstr(netdev, "bridge"))
+                qemuCapsSet(flags, QEMU_CAPS_NETDEV_BRIDGE);
+           qemuCapsSet(flags, QEMU_CAPS_NETDEV);
+        }
     }
 
     if (strstr(help, "-sdl"))
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
index e8251dc733..c1b67a6975 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ enum qemuCapsFlags {
     QEMU_CAPS_NEC_USB_XHCI       = 97, /* -device nec-usb-xhci */
     QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_S390        = 98, /* -device virtio-*-s390 */
     QEMU_CAPS_BALLOON_EVENT      = 99, /* Async event for balloon changes */
+    QEMU_CAPS_NETDEV_BRIDGE      = 100, /* bridge helper support */
 
     QEMU_CAPS_LAST,                   /* this must always be the last item */
 };
diff --git a/tests/qemuhelptest.c b/tests/qemuhelptest.c
index 012ba2695d..75c818ccd5 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhelptest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuhelptest.c
@@ -754,7 +754,8 @@ mymain(void)
             QEMU_CAPS_IDE_CD,
             QEMU_CAPS_NO_USER_CONFIG,
             QEMU_CAPS_HDA_MICRO,
-            QEMU_CAPS_NEC_USB_XHCI);
+            QEMU_CAPS_NEC_USB_XHCI,
+            QEMU_CAPS_NETDEV_BRIDGE);
 
     return ret == 0 ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }