diff --git a/rust/monovertex/src/forwarder.rs b/rust/monovertex/src/forwarder.rs
index 1ba928123c..0b875dff6f 100644
--- a/rust/monovertex/src/forwarder.rs
+++ b/rust/monovertex/src/forwarder.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 
+use chrono::Utc;
+use tokio::task::JoinSet;
+use tokio::time::sleep;
+use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
+use tracing::log::warn;
+use tracing::{debug, info};
+
 use crate::config::{config, OnFailureStrategy};
 use crate::error::{Error, Result};
 use crate::message::{Message, Offset};
@@ -8,12 +15,6 @@ use crate::metrics::forward_metrics;
 use crate::sink::{proto, SinkClient};
 use crate::source::SourceClient;
 use crate::transformer::TransformerClient;
-use chrono::Utc;
-use tokio::task::JoinSet;
-use tokio::time::sleep;
-use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
-use tracing::log::warn;
-use tracing::{debug, info};
 
 /// Forwarder is responsible for reading messages from the source, applying transformation if
 /// transformer is present, writing the messages to the sink, and then acknowledging the messages
@@ -223,50 +224,52 @@ impl Forwarder {
         // we will overwrite this vec with failed messages and will keep retrying.
         let mut messages_to_send = messages;
 
+        // check what is the failure strategy in the config
+        let strategy = config().sink_retry_on_fail_strategy.clone();
+
         // only breaks out of this loop based on the retry strategy unless all the messages have been written to sink
         // successfully.
-        loop {
-            while attempts < config().sink_max_retry_attempts {
-                let status = self
-                    .write_to_sink_once(&mut error_map, &mut fallback_msgs, &mut messages_to_send)
-                    .await;
-                match status {
-                    Ok(true) => break,
-                    Ok(false) => {
-                        attempts += 1;
-                        warn!(
-                            "Retry attempt {} due to retryable error. Errors: {:?}",
-                            attempts, error_map
-                        );
-                    }
-                    Err(e) => Err(e)?,
-                }
-            }
-
-            // If after the retries we still have messages to process, handle the post retry failures
-            let need_retry = self.handle_sink_post_retry(
-                &mut attempts,
-                &mut error_map,
-                &mut fallback_msgs,
-                &mut messages_to_send,
-            );
-            match need_retry {
-                // if we are done with the messages, break the loop
-                Ok(false) => break,
-                // if we need to retry, reset the attempts and error_map
-                Ok(true) => {
-                    attempts = 0;
-                    error_map.clear();
+        while attempts < config().sink_max_retry_attempts || strategy == OnFailureStrategy::Retry {
+            let status = self
+                .write_to_sink_once(&mut error_map, &mut fallback_msgs, &mut messages_to_send)
+                .await;
+            match status {
+                Ok(true) => break,
+                Ok(false) => {
+                    attempts += 1;
+                    warn!(
+                        "Retry attempt {} due to retryable error. Errors: {:?}",
+                        attempts, error_map
+                    );
                 }
                 Err(e) => Err(e)?,
             }
         }
 
+        // If after the retries we still have messages to process, handle the post retry failures
+        let need_retry = handle_sink_post_retry(
+            &mut attempts,
+            &mut error_map,
+            &mut fallback_msgs,
+            &mut messages_to_send,
+            strategy,
+            self.common_labels.clone(),
+        );
+
+        // if we need to retry, return with error as we have exhausted the retries
+        if need_retry? {
+            return Err(Error::SinkError(format!(
+                "Failed to write messages to sink after {} attempts. Errors: {:?}",
+                attempts, error_map
+            )));
+        }
+
         // If there are fallback messages, write them to the fallback sink
         if !fallback_msgs.is_empty() {
             self.handle_fallback_messages(fallback_msgs).await?;
         }
 
+        // update the metric for the end to end time taken to write to the sink
         forward_metrics()
             .sink_time
             .get_or_create(&self.common_labels)
@@ -281,58 +284,6 @@ impl Forwarder {
         Ok(())
     }
 
-    /// Handles the post retry failures based on the configured strategy,
-    /// returns true if we need to retry, else false.
-    fn handle_sink_post_retry(
-        &mut self,
-        attempts: &mut u16,
-        error_map: &mut HashMap<String, i32>,
-        fallback_msgs: &mut Vec<Message>,
-        messages_to_send: &mut Vec<Message>,
-    ) -> Result<bool> {
-        // if we are done with the messages, break the loop
-        if messages_to_send.is_empty() {
-            return Ok(false);
-        }
-        // check what is the failure strategy in the config
-        let strategy = config().sink_retry_on_fail_strategy.clone();
-        match strategy {
-            // if we need to retry, return true
-            OnFailureStrategy::Retry => {
-                warn!(
-                    "Using onFailure Retry, Retry attempts {} completed",
-                    attempts
-                );
-                return Ok(true);
-            }
-            // if we need to drop the messages, log and return false
-            OnFailureStrategy::Drop => {
-                // log that we are dropping the messages as requested
-                warn!(
-                    "Dropping messages after {} attempts. Errors: {:?}",
-                    attempts, error_map
-                );
-                // update the metrics
-                forward_metrics()
-                    .dropped_total
-                    .get_or_create(&self.common_labels)
-                    .inc_by(messages_to_send.len() as u64);
-            }
-            // if we need to move the messages to the fallback, return false
-            OnFailureStrategy::Fallback => {
-                // log that we are moving the messages to the fallback as requested
-                warn!(
-                    "Moving messages to fallback after {} attempts. Errors: {:?}",
-                    attempts, error_map
-                );
-                // move the messages to the fallback messages
-                fallback_msgs.append(messages_to_send);
-            }
-        }
-        // if we are done with the messages, break the loop
-        Ok(false)
-    }
-
     /// Writes to sink once and will return true if successful, else false. Please note that it
     /// mutates is incoming fields.
     async fn write_to_sink_once(
@@ -514,6 +465,57 @@ impl Forwarder {
     }
 }
 
+/// Handles the post retry failures based on the configured strategy,
+/// returns true if we need to retry, else false.
+fn handle_sink_post_retry(
+    attempts: &mut u16,
+    error_map: &mut HashMap<String, i32>,
+    fallback_msgs: &mut Vec<Message>,
+    messages_to_send: &mut Vec<Message>,
+    strategy: OnFailureStrategy,
+    common_labels: Vec<(String, String)>,
+) -> Result<bool> {
+    // if we are done with the messages, break the loop
+    if messages_to_send.is_empty() {
+        return Ok(false);
+    }
+    match strategy {
+        // if we need to retry, return true
+        OnFailureStrategy::Retry => {
+            warn!(
+                "Using onFailure Retry, Retry attempts {} completed",
+                attempts
+            );
+            return Ok(true);
+        }
+        // if we need to drop the messages, log and return false
+        OnFailureStrategy::Drop => {
+            // log that we are dropping the messages as requested
+            warn!(
+                "Dropping messages after {} attempts. Errors: {:?}",
+                attempts, error_map
+            );
+            // update the metrics
+            forward_metrics()
+                .dropped_total
+                .get_or_create(&common_labels)
+                .inc_by(messages_to_send.len() as u64);
+        }
+        // if we need to move the messages to the fallback, return false
+        OnFailureStrategy::Fallback => {
+            // log that we are moving the messages to the fallback as requested
+            warn!(
+                "Moving messages to fallback after {} attempts. Errors: {:?}",
+                attempts, error_map
+            );
+            // move the messages to the fallback messages
+            fallback_msgs.append(messages_to_send);
+        }
+    }
+    // if we are done with the messages, break the loop
+    Ok(false)
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use std::collections::HashSet;
@@ -1038,3 +1040,114 @@ mod tests {
             .expect("failed to join fb sink server task");
     }
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests_retry {
+    use super::*;
+
+    impl Message {
+        // dummy method to test the retry logic
+        pub(crate) fn dummy() -> Self {
+            Self {
+                keys: vec![],
+                value: vec![],
+                offset: Offset {
+                    offset: "".to_string(),
+                    partition_id: 0,
+                },
+                event_time: Utc::now(),
+                id: "".to_string(),
+                headers: HashMap::new(),
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_handle_sink_post_retry_empty_messages() {
+        let mut attempts = 0;
+        let mut error_map = HashMap::new();
+        let mut fallback_msgs = vec![];
+        let mut messages_to_send = vec![];
+        let common_labels = vec![];
+
+        let result = handle_sink_post_retry(
+            &mut attempts,
+            &mut error_map,
+            &mut fallback_msgs,
+            &mut messages_to_send,
+            OnFailureStrategy::Retry,
+            common_labels,
+        )
+        .unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(result, false);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_handle_sink_post_retry_retry() {
+        let mut attempts = 0;
+        let mut error_map = HashMap::new();
+        let mut fallback_msgs = vec![];
+        let mut messages_to_send = vec![Message::dummy()];
+
+        let result = handle_sink_post_retry(
+            &mut attempts,
+            &mut error_map,
+            &mut fallback_msgs,
+            &mut messages_to_send,
+            OnFailureStrategy::Retry,
+            vec![],
+        )
+        .unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(result, true);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_handle_sink_post_retry_drop() {
+        let mut attempts = 0;
+        let mut error_map = HashMap::new();
+        let mut fallback_msgs = vec![];
+        let mut messages_to_send = vec![Message::dummy()];
+
+        // check the metric before the drop
+        let val = forward_metrics().dropped_total.get_or_create(&vec![]).get();
+        assert_eq!(val, 0);
+        let result = handle_sink_post_retry(
+            &mut attempts,
+            &mut error_map,
+            &mut fallback_msgs,
+            &mut messages_to_send,
+            OnFailureStrategy::Drop,
+            vec![],
+        )
+        .unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(result, false);
+        // check if the metric is updated
+        let val = forward_metrics().dropped_total.get_or_create(&vec![]).get();
+        assert_eq!(val, 1)
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_handle_sink_post_retry_fallback() {
+        let mut attempts = 0;
+        let mut error_map = HashMap::new();
+        let mut fallback_msgs = vec![];
+        let mut messages_to_send = vec![Message::dummy()];
+
+        // check if the fallback messages are updated
+        assert_eq!(fallback_msgs.len(), 0);
+
+        let result = handle_sink_post_retry(
+            &mut attempts,
+            &mut error_map,
+            &mut fallback_msgs,
+            &mut messages_to_send,
+            OnFailureStrategy::Fallback,
+            vec![],
+        )
+        .unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(result, false);
+        assert!(messages_to_send.is_empty());
+        // check if the fallback messages are updated
+        assert_eq!(fallback_msgs.len(), 1);
+    }
+}