What PFRDA Grade A is
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority recruits Assistant Managers at Grade A through this exam, into India’s pension sector regulator. PFRDA oversees the National Pension System and pension fund managers rather than handling customer banking transactions, and it recruits across several specialisation streams (General, Research, Actuary, and Official Language) in the same cycle, alongside similar regulatory bodies such as SEBI, IRDAI and IFSCA.
Candidates choose a specialisation stream at the time of application, and the exact qualification, along with Phase II’s stream-specific paper, depends on which stream a candidate has chosen.
Who can apply
For the General stream, a Master’s degree or a postgraduate diploma of at least two years’ duration in any discipline is required. For the Actuary stream, a graduation degree is required, along with having passed or obtained exemption in all Core Principles subjects of the Institute of Actuaries of India examination. The Research stream requires a postgraduate-level qualification in Economics or Statistics, and the Official Language (Rajbhasha) stream requires a Master’s-level qualification in Hindi, Hindi Translation, Sanskrit, English, Economics or Commerce, as specified in the notification. The general age limit is up to 30 years as on the date specified in the notification, with standard relaxations for reserved categories, persons with disability and ex-servicemen.
How the exam runs
Phase I is an online screening examination with two objective papers, a general paper covering General Awareness, English Language, Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning, and a stream-specific paper, with negative marking for wrong answers as specified in the notification. Only candidates who clear the Phase I cutoff advance.
Phase II combines a stream-specific descriptive paper with a Descriptive Writing paper in English, testing depth in the candidate’s chosen stream rather than general aptitude alone.
Candidates who clear Phase II sit an Interview. Final selection weighs Phase II and Interview marks in the proportion PFRDA specifies each cycle.
Preparing the application
PFRDA specifies exact photograph and signature requirements in each notification rather than a fixed year to year standard, so check the current notification’s dimensions and file size before uploading. The tools on this site can resize your photograph to whatever specific target the notification states.
On exam day
Arrive at least an hour before the reporting time on your admit card, with the printed admit card and a government photo identification matching the name and photo on the admit card. No electronic devices are permitted inside the exam centre.
The official PFRDA website, linked above, carries the current specialisation streams, vacancies, syllabus, and schedule for the cycle you are applying to.