diff --git a/openpype/settings/defaults/project_settings/maya.json b/openpype/settings/defaults/project_settings/maya.json
index 6c9ac1c075..1f4858826f 100644
--- a/openpype/settings/defaults/project_settings/maya.json
+++ b/openpype/settings/defaults/project_settings/maya.json
@@ -1050,7 +1050,7 @@
         },
         "reference_loader": {
             "namespace": "{asset_name}_{subset}",
-            "group_name": "GRP"
+            "group_name": "_GRP"
         }
     },
     "workfile_build": {