diff --git a/java/yb-pgsql/src/test/java/org/yb/pgsql/TestPgExplicitLocks.java b/java/yb-pgsql/src/test/java/org/yb/pgsql/TestPgExplicitLocks.java
index a15a7e3c205d..489f54b2ff5f 100644
--- a/java/yb-pgsql/src/test/java/org/yb/pgsql/TestPgExplicitLocks.java
+++ b/java/yb-pgsql/src/test/java/org/yb/pgsql/TestPgExplicitLocks.java
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 package org.yb.pgsql;
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -374,4 +375,87 @@ public void testLocksSerializableIsolation() throws Exception {
   public void testLocksSnapshotIsolation() throws Exception {
     testLocksIsolationLevel(IsolationLevel.REPEATABLE_READ);
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testNoWait() throws Exception {
+    ConnectionBuilder builder = getConnectionBuilder();
+    try (Connection conn1 = builder.connect();
+         Connection conn2 = builder.connect();
+         Statement stmt1 = conn1.createStatement();
+         Statement stmt2 = conn2.createStatement();
+         Connection extraConn = builder.connect();
+         Statement extraStmt = extraConn.createStatement()) {
+      extraStmt.execute("CREATE TABLE test (k INT PRIMARY KEY, v INT)");
+      extraStmt.execute("INSERT INTO test VALUES (1, 1)");
+
+      int backoff_msecs = 100;
+      stmt1.execute("SET retry_min_backoff=" + backoff_msecs);
+      stmt1.execute("SET retry_max_backoff=" + backoff_msecs);
+      stmt1.execute("SET retry_backoff_multiplier=1");
+      stmt2.execute("SET retry_min_backoff=" + backoff_msecs);
+      stmt2.execute("SET retry_max_backoff=" + backoff_msecs);
+      stmt2.execute("SET retry_backoff_multiplier=1");
+
+      // The below SELECT is done just so that catalog reads etc are done before the NOWAIT
+      // statement. This helps us measure the number of read rpcs accurately for a later assertion.
+      stmt2.execute("SELECT * FROM test");
+
+      // Case 1: for REPEATABLE READ (not fully supported yet as explained below).
+
+      // This test uses 2 txns which can be assigned random priorities. Txn1 does just a SELECT FOR
+      // UPDATE. Txn2 later does the same but with the NOWAIT clause. There are 2 possible outcomes
+      // based on whether txn2 is assigned higher or lower priority than txn1:
+      //   1. Txn2 has higher priority: txn1 is aborted.
+      //   2. Txn2 has lower priority: txn2 is aborted.
+      //
+      // TODO(Piyush): The semantics of NOWAIT require that txn2 is aborted always. The statement in
+      // with NOWAIT should not kill other txns. So, the semantics of case 1 above need to be fixed.
+      //
+      // Since only case (2) works as of now, we need to ensure that txn2 has lower priority.
+      stmt1.execute("SET yb_transaction_priority_lower_bound = 0.5");
+      stmt2.execute("SET yb_transaction_priority_upper_bound = 0.4");
+
+      stmt1.execute("BEGIN TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL REPEATABLE READ");
+      stmt2.execute("BEGIN TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL REPEATABLE READ");
+      stmt1.execute("SELECT * FROM test WHERE k=1 FOR UPDATE");
+
+      Long read_count_before = getTServerMetric(
+        "handler_latency_yb_tserver_TabletServerService_Read").count;
+      try {
+        stmt2.execute("SELECT * FROM test WHERE k=1 FOR UPDATE NOWAIT");
+        assertTrue("Should not reach here since the statement is supposed to fail", false);
+      } catch (SQLException e) {
+        // If txn2 had a lower priority than txn1, instead of attempting retries for
+        // ysql_max_write_restart_attempts, it would fail immediately due to the NOWAIT clause
+        // with the appropriate message.
+        assertTrue(StringUtils.containsIgnoreCase(e.getMessage(),
+          "ERROR: could not obtain lock on row in relation \"test\""));
+
+        // Assert that we failed immediately without retrying at all. This is done by ensuring that
+        // we make only 2 read rpc call to tservers - one for reading the tuple and one for locking
+        // the row.
+        assertTrue((getTServerMetric(
+          "handler_latency_yb_tserver_TabletServerService_Read").count - read_count_before) == 2);
+        stmt1.execute("COMMIT");
+        stmt2.execute("ROLLBACK");
+      }
+
+      // Case 2: for READ COMMITTED isolation.
+      // All txns use the same priority in this isolation level.
+      stmt1.execute("BEGIN TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ COMMITTED");
+      stmt2.execute("BEGIN TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ COMMITTED");
+      stmt1.execute("SELECT * FROM test WHERE k=1 FOR UPDATE");
+
+      read_count_before = getTServerMetric(
+        "handler_latency_yb_tserver_TabletServerService_Read").count;
+      runInvalidQuery(stmt2, "SELECT * FROM test WHERE k=1 FOR UPDATE NOWAIT",
+        "ERROR: could not obtain lock on row in relation \"test\"");
+
+      // Assert that we failed immediately without retrying at all.
+      assertTrue((getTServerMetric(
+        "handler_latency_yb_tserver_TabletServerService_Read").count - read_count_before) == 2);
+      stmt1.execute("COMMIT");
+      stmt2.execute("ROLLBACK");
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/postgres/src/backend/executor/nodeLockRows.c b/src/postgres/src/backend/executor/nodeLockRows.c
index 67e9d6aca956..db50ad907654 100644
--- a/src/postgres/src/backend/executor/nodeLockRows.c
+++ b/src/postgres/src/backend/executor/nodeLockRows.c
@@ -254,10 +254,24 @@ ExecLockRows(PlanState *pstate)
 				 * with IsolationUsesXactSnapshot().
 				 */
 				if (true)
+				{
+					if (erm->waitPolicy == LockWaitError)
+					{
+						// In case the user has specified NOWAIT, the intention is to error out immediately. If
+						// we raise TransactionErrorCode::kConflict, the statement might be retried by our
+						// retry logic in yb_attempt_to_restart_on_error().
+						ereport(ERROR,
+							(errcode(ERRCODE_LOCK_NOT_AVAILABLE),
+							 errmsg("could not obtain lock on row in relation \"%s\"",
+											RelationGetRelationName(erm->relation))));
+					}
+
 					ereport(ERROR,
 							(errcode(ERRCODE_T_R_SERIALIZATION_FAILURE),
 							errmsg("could not serialize access due to concurrent update"),
 							yb_txn_errcode(YBCGetTxnConflictErrorCode())));
+				}
+
 				if (ItemPointerIndicatesMovedPartitions(&hufd.ctid))
 					ereport(ERROR,
 							(errcode(ERRCODE_T_R_SERIALIZATION_FAILURE),