PFRDA Assistant Manager Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Three phases: an online screening examination of two papers, an online main examination of two papers, and an interview.

Phase I, 15 October 2026

Negative marking is one fourth of the marks assigned to the question in both papers. Candidates need a separate cut-off in each paper and an aggregate cut-off to reach Phase II, and Phase I marks do not count towards final selection.

Phase II, 20 November 2026

• Paper 1 is evaluated only for candidates who obtain the minimum qualifying marks in Paper 2, and that minimum is set from the candidates' performance in Paper 2.
• Paper 2 carries the same one-fourth negative marking; the descriptive paper carries none.
• Separate cut-offs in each paper plus an aggregate cut-off, then five times the number of vacancies are shortlisted in order of merit for the interview.

Phase III and the final score

All papers except the Test of English are bilingual, Hindi and English, and the interview may be taken in either language. A candidate who applied for two streams sits the descriptive paper once and the two Paper 2s in separate shifts, with timings in the call letter. PFRDA reserves the right to modify the selection process at any stage.

The syllabus for both phases is in the annexure to Advt. No. 03/2026. For the General, Official Language and Actuarial streams, Paper 2 carries the same syllabus in both phases, so one body of material is examined twice.

Phase I Paper 1, common to all streams

Paper 2, General stream

1. PFRDA Act 2013 and amendments.
2. Union Budget concepts and trends, and the Economic Survey.
3. Commerce and Accountancy: accounting standards on depreciation, inventories, revenue recognition, fixed assets, foreign exchange and investments; cash flow and fund flow; ratio analysis; share capital including bonus and rights; ESOPs and buy-back; company final accounts.
4. Management: planning, organisation, staffing, directing and controlling; leadership styles and theories; HRD; motivation and incentives; communication and the role of IT.
5. Finance: financial sector regulators; forex, money, bond and equity markets; forwards, futures and swaps; financial inclusion; public-private partnership; direct and indirect taxes, GST, the Finance Commission, fiscal policy and the FRBM Act; inflation, WPI and CPI.
6. Costing: methods of costing, standard and marginal costing, budgetary control, and lean systems including just-in-time, Kaizen, 5S, TPM, Six Sigma and business process re-engineering.
7. Companies Act 2013, specifically Chapters III, IV, VIII, X, XI, XII and XXVII.
8. Economics: demand and supply, market structures, national income, classical and Keynesian approaches, multiplier and accelerator, IS-LM, the Phillips curve, business cycles, balance of payments, monetary and fiscal policy, NBFCs.
9. Pension Sector: the pension sector in India, types of retirement schemes, the National Pension System, the Atal Pension Yojana, annuity plans, basics of investment.
10. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: supervised and unsupervised learning, data preprocessing, model evaluation, NLP, sentiment analysis, overfitting, cross-validation, reinforcement learning, and LLM, Agentic AI and Responsible AI.
11. Media: micro-targeting, consumer behaviour, media convergence, virtual and augmented reality, the digital divide, social media algorithms, negotiation skills.
12. Marketing and Communication: marketing management and strategy, pricing, distribution, brand management, digital marketing, financial literacy, active listening, public speaking, conflict resolution and emotional intelligence.

Paper 2, other streams

Research: Probability Theory, Descriptive Statistics, Probability Distributions, Statistical Inference, Sampling Techniques, Testing of Hypothesis, Economic Statistics, Time Series Analysis, Operations Research, Statistical Quality Control, Statistical Computing.

Actuarial, in two parts. Insurance: principles, risk pooling, insurable interest, group, health and pensions business, intermediation and bancassurance, product design, pricing, underwriting, claims, reinsurance, superannuation funds, valuation and solvency, GIC of India and obligatory cessions. Management: processes, leadership, HRD, appraisal and counselling, motivation, communication and corporate governance.

Official Language (Rajbhasha): the Official Language Policy of the Government of India; Hindi to English and English to Hindi translation of terms, phrases and sentences; legal terminology both ways; and pension, administrative, banking, capital market, economics and social security terminology both ways.

Phase II Paper 1, descriptive

English, framed to assess writing skills, expression and understanding of the topic, including precis writing, essay writing and comprehension. Three questions, 100 marks, 60 minutes.

A candidate may apply for at most two streams for which they are eligible, with a separate application and fee for each. Applying more than once in a stream, or for more than two streams, leaves only the last application valid, with no refund.

Age, 30 as on 31.07.2026

Not over 30 on 31 July 2026, that is, born on or after 1 August 1996.

SC, ST and OBC candidates who are also PwBD and ex-servicemen get cumulative relaxation.

Where no vacancy is reserved for a category, its candidates can still apply but get no relaxation. SC, ST, PwBD and ex-serviceman candidates stay fee-exempt even then. That matters in the small streams: a Scheduled Caste candidate may apply to Actuary, whose two posts are both unreserved, and compete on the unreserved standard with no age relaxation.

The certificate dates that end candidatures

• OBC (NCL): certificate issued on or after 01.04.2026 and before document verification at the interview. Without it the candidate is not allowed to appear for interview, and a request to be interviewed as Unreserved is not entertained.
• EWS: Income and Asset Certificate valid for FY 2026-27 on FY 2025-26 income, issued on or after 01.04.2026. No extension beyond the interview date is permitted.

Applications are invited from Indian citizens. Information found false at any stage can cancel the candidature, selection, appointment or confirmation at any point in the officer's career with the Authority.

1. Phase I, online screening, two papers of 100 marks. Shortlists only.
2. Phase II, online, two papers of 100 marks: a descriptive English paper and the stream's subject paper.
3. Phase III, interview, for five times the number of vacancies in order of merit.

Final selection is on Phase II at 85 per cent and the interview at 15 per cent.

The bars before the interview

The aggregate cut-offs are decided by the Authority in relation to the number of vacancies, and none is published in advance. The Paper 2 gate means the 100-mark descriptive paper is not marked at all unless the subject paper clears a bar set after the fact.

On 30 posts, five times is roughly 150 interviews: about 125 for General, 10 each for Research and Actuary, and 5 for the single Rajbhasha post. Within streams the category matters too. Both Actuary posts are unreserved, the Rajbhasha post is OBC, and Research has one SC and one UR.

After the interview

• If a selected candidate does not join in time, PFRDA may offer the post to the next candidate, but has no obligation to, and may leave the post unfilled. There is no waiting list as a right.
• Qualifying at any stage vests no right to appointment, which depends on the Authority's internal requirement. PFRDA may fill or not fill posts, change their number, or end the process.
• Probation is two years, with confirmation subject to satisfactory performance and verification of character and antecedents. A candidate later found ineligible in any manner is liable to have services dispensed with.

The scale for Officer Grade 'A' is ₹62500-3600(4)-76900-4050(7)-105250-EB-4050(4)-121450-4650(1)-126100 (17 years).

Progress past ₹1,05,250 is not automatic: the EB is an efficiency bar.

Gross emoluments at the minimum of the scale are approximately ₹2,05,000 a month, counting the Authority's NPS contribution and Grade, Special, Special Grade, Dearness, Local, Family, Special Compensatory, Learning and Housing Allowances. For comparison, entry-grade officer posts elsewhere in the sector quote about ₹90,000 (NICL Administrative Officer, metro), ₹85,000 (OICL and GIC Re Assistant Manager) and ₹56,000 (LIC Probationary Development Officer, A-class city).

Benefits include Leave Fare Concession, medical expenses, personal accident insurance, spectacles, Children Education Allowance, Knowledge Updation Allowance, briefcase, conveyance, house cleaning allowance, staff furnishing and computer purchase schemes, and a Pluxee meal card.

Probation is two years, and there is no bond. Postings are to New Delhi or Mumbai, with liability to serve anywhere in India and in any department, whatever the stream recruited into.

Online, through PFRDA Careers, from 03.09.2026 to 24.09.2026, fee included.

A second stream means a second application and a second fee, so ₹2,000 for a general-category candidate. Both applications must name the same centres for Phase I and Phase II.

Nothing can be corrected after final submission, category included, and no correspondence, phone or email about it is entertained.

The form takes up to three centre preferences for Phase I and one for Phase II, and the two may differ.

Nothing is verified at application. Certificates are produced at document verification during the interview, in the Authority's prescribed formats: SC and ST, OBC (issued on or after 01.04.2026), EWS Income and Asset (FY 2026-27, issued on or after 01.04.2026), disability Forms V, VI and VII, and a scribe declaration form. A certificate dated before 1 April 2026 is not accepted, and no extension beyond the interview date is allowed.

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority is a statutory regulator, not a company, established under the PFRDA Act, 2013. It regulates the National Pension System and the Atal Pension Yojana, and licenses and supervises pension funds, central recordkeeping agencies, points of presence and trustee banks. That is why the General syllabus carries the PFRDA Act and a Pension Sector head, and why the Research stream is economics, finance and statistics rather than insurance.

The post is Officer Grade 'A' (Assistant Manager) in four streams, General (25), Research (2), Actuary (2) and Rajbhasha (1), and the stream does not confine the officer: any of them may be posted to any department. The Authority has two offices, New Delhi and Mumbai, with liability to serve anywhere in India.

Roughly forty centres at Phase I and eighteen at Phase II, so someone who sits the screening paper at Imphal, Mapusa or Haldwani travels for the paper that decides the result.

Up to three preferences for Phase I and one for Phase II, but candidates sit wherever the call letter says, at their own risk and expense. PFRDA may change a centre at its discretion and entertains no request to change one. Every centre caters for candidates with Blindness and Low Vision and Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The Authority arranges no travel, boarding or lodging at any stage, including the interview, whose venue comes with the interview call letter.

PFRDA may change the schedule or end the process without notice. Between the two papers there are five weeks, and since Paper 2's syllabus is the same in both phases for three of the four streams, that time is mainly for the descriptive paper.

Two dates outside the table end candidatures: OBC (NCL) and EWS certificates must be issued on or after 01.04.2026 and in hand by the interview, with no extension. Get them while waiting for the Phase I result. Notices appear on pfrda.org.in/careers.

No date is fixed for call letters. They are intimated by e-mail or SMS, with general information on PFRDA Careers. Each phase has its own call letter, and Phase III dates go by e-mail or call letter with the list of candidates on the website.

The call letter, not the application, decides the centre. Candidates who applied for two streams find their Phase II Paper 2 shift timings there and nowhere else. Keep the registered e-mail and mobile live from September to the interview.

A scribe is claimed on the Authority's scribe declaration form, and PwBD status on Form V, VI or VII. At the interview, originals are verified, and a missing OBC or EWS certificate means no interview.

Lists of candidates cleared at each phase go on the PFRDA website, with dates for the next phase by e-mail or call letter. The Authority publishes no scorecards. A selected candidate is on two years' probation, and false information found at any point in the career can cancel the appointment.

No cut-off marks are published for PFRDA Assistant Manager, before or after the examination. Every cut-off is decided by the Authority in relation to the number of vacancies. The only fixed figure is the interview shortlist, five times the vacancies: about 150 candidates on 30 posts, and about 5 for the single Rajbhasha post.

New India Assurance, National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and GIC Re do release cut-off notices, so their figures are the nearest public reference for the sector.

Work out where your marks come from

Phase I counts for nothing in the result. Phase II Paper 2 is about 57 per cent of the final score, the descriptive Paper 1 about 28 per cent, the interview 15. Nearly nine tenths of the result comes from two papers on one day in November.

Use the published syllabus, twice

For the General, Actuarial and Rajbhasha streams, Paper 2 carries the same syllabus at both phases, so the work for 15 October is directly reusable for 20 November.

Score practice with the right penalties

Paper 2 is 50 questions for 100 marks, so a wrong answer costs 0.5, the heaviest per-question penalty in the sector. In Phase I Paper 1, a wrong Reasoning answer costs 0.208, about 0.21, against 0.3125 elsewhere, so a guess in Reasoning is the cheapest on the paper. Paper 2 also gives 40 minutes for 50 questions, 48 seconds each.

Prepare the descriptive paper properly, but subject first

Three pieces in 60 minutes, typed: precis, essay, comprehension. Practise typing them. But Paper 1 is read only if Paper 2 clears its minimum, so subject knowledge comes first in the order of work.

Read the General syllabus to the end

The last three heads, AI and Machine Learning down to LLM and Agentic AI, Media, and Marketing and Communication, are not in standard banking material. Alongside them, the PFRDA Act 2013, the Pension Sector head with NPS and Atal Pension Yojana, the Union Budget and Economic Survey, and seven named chapters of the Companies Act 2013 are compact and learnable.

Consider two streams

A statistics Master's may qualify for both General and Research. Two streams cost two fees and an extra Paper 2 shift, but give two chances at a 30-post recruitment.

Get the certificates early

OBC (NCL) and EWS certificates must be issued on or after 01.04.2026 and produced at the interview, with no extension and no fallback to the unreserved list.

No previous year or sample papers are available for PFRDA Assistant Manager as of now. The full syllabus for every stream is in the annexure to the advertisement, published with each recruitment on PFRDA's careers page, usually around September.

• Recruitment of Officer Grade A (Assistant Manager) 2026, Advt. No. 03/2026 of 03.09.2026, 32 pages including the syllabus annexure
• The advertisement's page and PFRDA Careers, where every prescribed form is published
• Certificate formats: SC/ST, OBC, EWS Income and Asset, disability Form V (Forms VI and VII alongside), scribe declaration
• For the General Paper 2: PFRDA for the Act and regulations, NPS Trust, indiabudget.gov.in, and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for the Companies Act 2013
• For the Actuarial stream: Institute of Actuaries of India and IRDAI
• For Rajbhasha: Department of Official Language and the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology
• Reservation rules: EWS under DoPT OM No. 36039/1/2019-Estt (Res) of 31.01.2019 (DoPT); PwBD under section 34 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (DEPwD); the Central List of OBCs

What is the post, and how many vacancies are there?

Officer Grade 'A' (Assistant Manager) at the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. Advt. No. 03/2026 has 30 posts: General 25, Research 2, Actuary 2, Official Language (Rajbhasha) 1.

Can I apply for more than one stream?

Yes, up to two for which you are eligible, with a separate application and fee for each, and the same centres for both.

What are the stages, and does Phase I count?

Phase I screening, Phase II main examination, Phase III interview. Phase I marks are used only for shortlisting. The final score is Phase II at 85 per cent and the interview at 15 per cent.

How much is the descriptive paper worth?

100 marks, three questions in 60 minutes, a third of Phase II, roughly 28 per cent of the final score. It is evaluated only if you clear the minimum in Paper 2.

Is there negative marking?

Yes, one fourth of the marks assigned to the question on every objective paper. In Paper 2, at two marks a question, a wrong answer costs 0.5.

How many candidates reach the interview?

Five times the number of vacancies, about 150 on 30 posts. The interview may be taken in Hindi or English.

What is the age limit?

30 as on 31.07.2026, so born on or after 01.08.1996. PwBD candidates get 10 years whether or not the post is reserved, 13 for PwBD OBC and 15 for PwBD SC or ST where reserved.

My category has no post in my stream. Can I apply?

Yes, but with no relaxation. SC, ST, PwBD and ex-serviceman candidates still pay no fee.

What is the fee?

₹1,000 inclusive of GST for Unreserved, EWS and OBC; nil for SC, ST, PwBD and ex-servicemen. Non-refundable, and a second stream means a second fee.

When must my OBC or EWS certificate be dated?

Issued on or after 01.04.2026 and produced at the interview. Without it you are not interviewed, and an OBC candidate cannot fall back to Unreserved.

What is the pay?

₹62,500 to ₹1,26,100 over 17 years, with gross emoluments at entry of approximately ₹2,05,000 a month.

How long is probation, and is there a bond?

Two years, with confirmation subject to performance and character verification. There is no bond.

Where will I be posted?

New Delhi or Mumbai, with liability to serve anywhere in India and in any department.

Are cut-off marks published?

No. Every cut-off is decided by the Authority in relation to the vacancies and is not published.