The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) on December 10, 2025, issued a revised Master Circular on Investment Guidelines applicable to National Pension System (NPS) Tier-I and Tier-II accounts in the Non-Government Sector (NGS). This circular has been issued under the powers granted to PFRDA under the PFRDA Act, 2013 and supersedes the previous master circular dated March 28, 2025.
The circular consolidates and updates the investment framework governing pension funds managing NPS subscriptions in sectors other than Central/State Government, Corporate CG, NPS Lite, and APY. It lays down general compliance requirements, clarifies continuity of earlier circulars until subsumed, and preserves the validity of actions taken under earlier guidelines. The document then sets out detailed investment norms for Asset Classes G (Government Securities) and C (Corporate Debt), specifying eligible instruments, limits, credit criteria, and risk safeguards for pension fund investments.
The Master Circular comes into immediate effect and harmonizes multiple previous instructions into a single unified guideline to enhance transparency, uniformity, and regulatory oversight of NPS investments in the non-government segment.
[Notification No. PFRDA/Master Circular/2025/06/PF-04]
