The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has issued a circular to rationalize the nomenclature of Auto Choice/Life Cycle (LC) Funds under the National Pension System (NPS) and integrate them into the newly introduced Common Schemes (CS) framework, previously known as Auto Choice and Active Choice. This is driven by a review to align fund names with their risk-return profiles, noting that the Balanced Life Cycle Fund (BLC) has a higher equity allocation at certain age points than the current LC 75 (Aggressive Life Cycle Fund). The key decision is to incorporate BLC into the Auto Choice category and revise the names of all four life cycle funds—LC 25, LC 50, LC 75, and BLC—to clearly convey their growth categories: Low, Moderate, High, and Aggressive. Under the broader Multiple Scheme Framework (MSF), subscribers gain flexibility to invest across multiple schemes of one or more Pension Funds (PFs) and choose multiple Common Schemes in both Tier I and Tier II, provided enhanced functionalities are developed by Central Recordkeeping Agencies (CRAs). This allows a subscriber to hold multiple investment accounts under a single PRAN or multiple PRANs with different CRAs, each account representing a combination of PF Schemes or Common Schemes, with all accounts subject to PFRDA’s existing exit and withdrawal guidelines. All NPS intermediaries must promptly update their interfaces to reflect this revised nomenclature.
Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority
Circulars No. PFRDA/2025/16/Reg-PF/02 | Dated: 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
