ESIC circular PFRDA 2025/16/Reg-PF 02 · 07 Jul 2026
Official title
Rationalization of Nomenclature of Auto Choice / Life Cycle Funds under the NPS and Multiple Choices of investment under Common Schemes
Official record
Open source pageSummary
The PFRDA has rationalized the nomenclature of Auto Choice and Life Cycle (LC) funds under the National Pension System (NPS) to improve transparency and align fund names with their risk-return profiles. The Balanced Life Cycle Fund has been renamed to 'Life Cycle - Aggressive' and incorporated into the Auto Choice category. Additionally, the circular clarifies that existing investment options, Auto Choice and Active Choice, are now referred to as Common Schemes. Under the Multiple Scheme Framework, subscribers gain flexibility to invest across multiple schemes and Pension Funds. NPS intermediaries are required to update all public-facing interfaces, including websites, portals, and mobile applications, to reflect these revised names.
What you must do
Who is affected
CIRCULAR PFRDA 2025/16/Reg-PF 02
17th October 2025 To: All NPS Stakeholders Subject: Rationalization of Nomenclature of Auto Choice / Life Cycle Funds under the NPS & Multiple Choices of Investment under Common Schemes PFRDA has undertaken a comprehensive review of the existing nomenclature based on the asset allocation & age wise tapering pattern of Auto Choice / Life Cycle (LC) Funds under the NPS. The Balanced Life Cycle Fund (BLC) exhibits a relatively higher equity allocation at the age milestones of 45 and 55 years as compared to the LC 75 Fund, which is currently categorized as an Aggressive Life Cycle Fund under Auto Choice. To ensure the alignment of fund nomenclature with their respective risk return profiles, and to enhance transparency, simplicity and uniformity, it has been decided to incorporate the BLC within the Auto Choice category and rationalize the names across Auto Choice of investment. The revised nomenclature of the life cycle funds under Auto Choice is enclosed at the Annexure I and the asset tapering matrix of various life cycle funds is provided at Annexure II for the information of stakeholders. Further, it may be noted that as per PFRDA Circular No PFRDA/2025/09/REG-PF/01 dated 16th September 2025, the existing investment options under NPS viz Auto Choice and Active Choice shall henceforth be referred to as Common Schemes (CS). Under the Multiple Scheme Framework (MSF), the subscribers will have the flexibility to invest across multiple schemes of one or more Pension Funds (PFs) and also to choose multiple Common Schemes with one or more PFs in Tier I and Tier II. In the former, the subscribers do not allocate their contribution across Asset classes since the asset allocation is predefined by the respective PF whereas in the latter, subscribers earmark their contribution across the asset classes under the chosen PF. As per the existing guidelines, the subscribers have the option to have either Active or Auto Choice of investment in Tier I and II with any one of the CRAs. However, post development of the enhanced functionalities by CRAs as per the revised guidelines, the Subscribers shall be having the options of investing in multiple investment accounts under their PRAN and open multiple PRANs with
different CRAs (Refer Annexure III). Hence each of these account under PRAN of a CRA shall represent A. One or more schemes designed and operated by PFs B. One or more common schemes (Active and Auto Choices) Each of the account under the PRAN shall be subjected to the exit and withdrawal guidelines issued by PFRDA at the time of exit. All NPS intermediaries have to ensure that the revised nomenclature is updated and reflected across all public-facing interfaces, including websites, subscriber portals, and mobile applications at the earliest.
Yours faithfully,
Chief General Manager
Encl.: A/a
Annexure I
Annexure II
(Earlier Name LC 25 Conservative Life Cycle Fund) 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 45 43 41 39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 63 66 69 72 75 78 81 84 87 90 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 Asset allocation (in %) Age (in years) Life Cycle 25 - Low (5E/55Y) E C G E- Equity C- Corporate Bonds G Govt Securities
(Earlier Name LC 50 Moderate Life Cycle Fund) 50 48 46 44 42 40 38 36 34 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 20 23 26 29 32 35 38 41 44 47 50 53 56 59 62 65 68 71 74 77 80 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 Age (in years) Life Cycle 50 - Moderate (10E/55Y) E C G
75 71 67 63 59 55 51 47 43 39 35 32 29 26 23 20 19 18 17 16 15 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 18 16 14 12 10 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 63 66 69 72 75 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 Asset allocation (in %) Age (in years) Life Cycle 75 - High (15E/55Y) E C G (Earlier Name LC 75 Aggressive Life Cycle Fund)
50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 48 46 44 42 40 39 38 37 36 35 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 24 28 32 36 40 43 46 49 52 55 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 Asset allocation (in %) Age (in years) Life Cycle - Aggressive (35E/55Y) E C G (Earlier Name Balanced Life Cycle Fund)
Annexure III
