diff --git a/flags.go b/flags.go
index 2d3dd91648..593cd3e273 100644
--- a/flags.go
+++ b/flags.go
@@ -194,10 +194,9 @@ func newApp() (app *cli.App) {
 
 			cli.DurationFlag{
 				Name:  "max-retry-sleep",
-				Value: time.Minute,
-				Usage: "The maximum duration allowed to sleep in a retry loop with exponential backoff " +
-					"for failed requests to GCS backend. Once the backoff duration exceeds this limit, the retry stops." +
-					" The default is 1 minute. A value of 0 disables retries.",
+				Value: 30 * time.Second,
+				Usage: "The maximum duration allowed to sleep in a retry loop with exponential backoff for failed requests to GCS backend." +
+					" Once the backoff duration exceeds this limit, the retry continues with this specified maximum value.",
 			},
 
 			cli.IntFlag{
@@ -225,8 +224,8 @@ func newApp() (app *cli.App) {
 
 			cli.DurationFlag{
 				Name:  "max-retry-duration",
-				Value: 30 * time.Second,
-				Usage: "The operation will be retried till the value of max-retry-duration.",
+				Value: -1 * time.Second,
+				Usage: "This flag is currently unused.",
 			},
 
 			cli.Float64Flag{
diff --git a/flags_test.go b/flags_test.go
index 804796ac1a..ffb2f7a57b 100644
--- a/flags_test.go
+++ b/flags_test.go
@@ -218,14 +218,16 @@ func (t *FlagsTest) Durations() {
 		"--stat-cache-ttl", "1m17s",
 		"--type-cache-ttl", "19ns",
 		"--http-client-timeout", "800ms",
-		"--max-retry-duration", "30s",
+		"--max-retry-duration", "-1s",
+		"--max-retry-sleep", "30s",
 	}
 
 	f := parseArgs(args)
 	ExpectEq(77*time.Second, f.StatCacheTTL)
 	ExpectEq(19*time.Nanosecond, f.TypeCacheTTL)
 	ExpectEq(800*time.Millisecond, f.HttpClientTimeout)
-	ExpectEq(30*time.Second, f.MaxRetryDuration)
+	ExpectEq(-1*time.Second, f.MaxRetryDuration)
+	ExpectEq(30*time.Second, f.MaxRetrySleep)
 }
 
 func (t *FlagsTest) Maps() {
diff --git a/internal/storage/storage_handle.go b/internal/storage/storage_handle.go
index 4c263c8fd5..031be36371 100644
--- a/internal/storage/storage_handle.go
+++ b/internal/storage/storage_handle.go
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ func NewStorageHandle(ctx context.Context, clientConfig storageutil.StorageClien
 	// https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-go/blob/main/storage/storage.go#L1953
 	sc.SetRetry(
 		storage.WithBackoff(gax.Backoff{
-			Max:        clientConfig.MaxRetryDuration,
+			Max:        clientConfig.MaxRetrySleep,
 			Multiplier: clientConfig.RetryMultiplier,
 		}),
 		storage.WithPolicy(storage.RetryAlways),
diff --git a/internal/storage/storageutil/client.go b/internal/storage/storageutil/client.go
index 3459bab17d..77c125992d 100644
--- a/internal/storage/storageutil/client.go
+++ b/internal/storage/storageutil/client.go
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ type StorageClientConfig struct {
 	MaxConnsPerHost            int
 	MaxIdleConnsPerHost        int
 	HttpClientTimeout          time.Duration
-	MaxRetryDuration           time.Duration
+	MaxRetrySleep              time.Duration
 	RetryMultiplier            float64
 	UserAgent                  string
 	CustomEndpoint             *url.URL
diff --git a/internal/storage/storageutil/test_util.go b/internal/storage/storageutil/test_util.go
index 56c60a2dc2..970577bb88 100644
--- a/internal/storage/storageutil/test_util.go
+++ b/internal/storage/storageutil/test_util.go
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ func GetDefaultStorageClientConfig() (clientConfig StorageClientConfig) {
 		MaxConnsPerHost:            10,
 		MaxIdleConnsPerHost:        100,
 		HttpClientTimeout:          800 * time.Millisecond,
-		MaxRetryDuration:           30 * time.Second,
+		MaxRetrySleep:              time.Minute,
 		RetryMultiplier:            2,
 		UserAgent:                  "gcsfuse/unknown (Go version go1.20-pre3 cl/474093167 +a813be86df) (GCP:gcsfuse)",
 		CustomEndpoint:             &url.URL{},
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index cc628c1397..54684c8d8b 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ func createStorageHandle(flags *flagStorage) (storageHandle storage.StorageHandl
 		MaxConnsPerHost:            flags.MaxConnsPerHost,
 		MaxIdleConnsPerHost:        flags.MaxIdleConnsPerHost,
 		HttpClientTimeout:          flags.HttpClientTimeout,
-		MaxRetryDuration:           flags.MaxRetryDuration,
+		MaxRetrySleep:              flags.MaxRetrySleep,
 		RetryMultiplier:            flags.RetryMultiplier,
 		UserAgent:                  getUserAgent(flags.AppName),
 		CustomEndpoint:             flags.CustomEndpoint,
diff --git a/main_test.go b/main_test.go
index 1bfeac0582..9d2d00474e 100644
--- a/main_test.go
+++ b/main_test.go
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ func (t *MainTest) TestCreateStorageHandle() {
 		MaxConnsPerHost:     5,
 		MaxIdleConnsPerHost: 100,
 		HttpClientTimeout:   5,
-		MaxRetryDuration:    7,
+		MaxRetrySleep:       7,
 		RetryMultiplier:     2,
 		AppName:             "app",
 		KeyFile:             "testdata/test_creds.json",