PFRDA Grade A Syllabus & Exam Pattern 2026: Complete Guide for Assistant Manager

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) conducts the PFRDA Grade A Exam to recruit eligible candidates for the Assistant Manager (Grade A) position. For aspirants aiming to crack this prestigious exam, mastering the PFRDA Grade A Syllabus and Exam Pattern is the essential first step. Understanding these details helps you identify key topics and construct a strategic study plan. To support your preparation, we have compiled a comprehensive breakdown of the syllabus, marking scheme, and exam structure.

PFRDA Grade A Syllabus and Exam Pattern 2026

The PFRDA Grade A (Assistant Manager) Syllabus is organized into distinct phases, each focusing on specific subjects and competencies. A thorough understanding of these topics is mandatory to gain clarity on the expected level of the examination. Below, we provide an overview of the marking scheme for both phases to help you prioritize your study efforts effectively.

PFRDA Grade A (Assistant Manager) Syllabus 2026: Overview
Conducting Body	Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority
Post Name	Assistant Manager (Grade A)
Exam Mode	Online
Total Questions	Phase 1- 130 Phase 2- 53
Total Marks	200 Marks Each Phase
Negative Marking	¼
Selection Process	Prelims, Mains and Interview
Official Website	https://www.pfrda.org.in/

PFRDA Assistant Manager Selection Process

The selection process for the PFRDA Assistant Manager (Grade A) position is divided into three comprehensive stages, which are outlined as follows:

1. Phase 1 (Qualifying)
2. Phase 2 (MCQ+Descriptive)
3. Phase 3 (Interview)

PFRDA Grade A Exam Pattern 2026

The PFRDA exam pattern for Assistant Managers is summarized below for both phases. While Phase 1 evaluates candidates on quantitative aptitude, reasoning, and general awareness, Phase 2 focuses on advanced banking knowledge and descriptive writing proficiency.

PFRDA Grade A Exam Pattern Phase 1

The PFRDA Grade A Phase 1 exam is a qualifying stage consisting of two online papers, each carrying 100 marks. Please note that there is a 1/4th negative marking penalty for incorrect answers. To progress to Phase 2, candidates must secure the required sectional cut-offs for each paper as well as the overall qualifying score.

Paper	Subjects	Questions	Marks	Time
Paper 1	English Language	20	25	60 minutes
	Quantitative Aptitude	20	25
	Reasoning	20	25
	General Awareness (including some questions related to Financial Sector)	20	25
	Total	80	100
Paper  2	Multiple choice questions on subjects Commerce, Accountancy, Management, Finance, Costing, Companies Act, Economics and Pension Sector.	50	100	40 minutes

PFRDA Grade A Exam Pattern Phase 1 for Information Technology, Finance and Accounts, Research (Economics), Research (Statistics), Legal and Official Language (Rajbhasha) Streams
Paper	Subjects	Questions	Marks	Time
Paper 1	English Language	20	25	60 minutes
	Quantitative Aptitude	20	25
	Reasoning	20	25
	General Awareness (including some questions related to Financial Sector)	20	25
	Total	80	100
Paper 2	Multiple choice questions on Specialised subject related to stream.	50	100	40 minutes

PFRDA Assistant Manager Phase 2 Exam Pattern

The PFRDA Grade A Phase 2 examination comprises two online papers, each valued at 100 marks. Candidates should be aware that the objective paper (Paper 2) carries a 1/4th negative marking penalty for any incorrect responses.

Papers	Subjects	Questions	Marks	Duration
Paper 1	English (Descriptive Test) to test the drafting skills	3	100	60 minutes
Paper 2	General Stream: Multiple choice questions on subjects Commerce, Accountancy, Management, Finance, Costing, Companies Act, Economics and Pension Sector.	50	100	40 minutes

PFRDA Grade A Exam Pattern Phase 2 for Information Technology, Finance and Accounts, Research (Economics), Research (Statistics), Legal and Official Language (Rajbhasha) Streams
Papers	Subjects	Questions	Marks	Duration
Paper 1	English (Descriptive Test) to test the drafting skills	3	100	60 minutes
Paper 2	Information Technology, Finance and Accounts, Research (Economics), Research (Statistics), Legal and Official Language (Rajbhasha) Streams: Multiple choice questions on Specialized subject related to stream.	50	100	40 minutes

PFRDA Grade A Phase 1 Syllabus 2026

The syllabus for the Grade A examination covers five core subjects: English, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning, General Awareness, and Professional Knowledge. Review the detailed topic list below to understand the curriculum required for the examination.

English Language

• Cloze test
• Grammar
• Error Spotting
• Comprehension Ability
• Comprehension passage
• One-word Substitution
• Phrasal Verbs
• Rearrangement
• Para jumbles
• Double Fillers
• Sentence Improvement
• Synonyms
• Antonyms
• Idioms

Quantitative Aptitude

• Ratio and Proportion
• Percentage
• Profit and Loss
• Time and Distance
• Data Sufficiency
• Simple and Compound Interest
• Average and Ages
• Time and Work
• Pipes and Cistern
• Partnership
• Mixture and Alligation
• Series and Quadratic Equation
• Mathematical Inequalities
• Number Series
• Data Interpretation
• Simplification/ Approximation
• Quantity Comparisons

Reasoning

• Alphanumeric Series
• Seating Arrangement
• Input-Output
• Critical Reasoning
• Ranking and Order
• Coding and Decoding
• Syllogism
• Blood Relation
• Puzzles
• Direction Sense
• Inequality
• Questions Based on Data Sufficiency

General Awareness

• National News: MoUs, Summits, and Major Events in India
• Financial and Economics News
• Financial Awareness: RBI and SEBI Notification and Regulations
• Military Exercises
• Major events or days, along with its date and theme
• Summits and Conferences held abroad
• Persons in News: Obituaries, Appointments, and Retirements
• Sports: Major Tournaments and its Winners
• National Parks and Sanctuaries
• Airport Locations, Stadiums
• Organisations’ Headquarters
• Banks’ Headquarters and Taglines
• Power Plants in India
• Indian Dance Forms
• Chief Ministers and Cabinet Ministers
• Environment
• Banking and Economy-Related News
• Important Days
• Countries Capitals and their Currencies
• Science, Technology, and Space
• Awards and Honours
• Reports and Government Schemes
• Books and Authors

Paper 2- Subject Related

Commerce and Accountancy:

• Accounting as a Financial Information System
• Accounting Standards
• Cash Flow Statement
• Accounting for Share Capital Transactions
• Employee Stock Options and Buyback of Securities
• Preparation and Presentation of Company Final Accounts
   

Management:

• The Role of a Manager in an Organization
• Human Resource Development
• Motivation and Communication
• Leadership and Leadership Styles
   

Economics:

• Demand and Supply, Market Structures
• Foreign Exchange Markets, Inflation
• Monetary and Fiscal Policy
• Non-banking Financial Institutions
• National Income, Balance of Payments
   

Costing:

• Overview of Cost and Management Accounting
• Methods of Costing
• Basics of Cost Control and Analysis
• Lean System and Innovation
   

Pension Sector:

• Status of the Pension Sector in India
• Types of Retirement Schemes in India
• National Pension System
• Atal Pension Yojana
• Annuity Plans
• Basics of Investment
   

Finance:

• Financial System
• Financial Markets
• Company Act and The Companies Act, 2013

PFRDA Assistant Manager Phase 2 Syllabus 2026

The Phase 2 exam for Assistant Manager includes a descriptive paper testing your essay writing, précis writing, and reading comprehension skills, while the second paper focuses on core technical subjects related to the role.

General Stream

1. Commerce & Accountancy
   a) Accounting as a financial information system;
   b) Accounting Standards with specific reference to Accounting for Depreciation, Inventories, Revenue Recognition, Fixed Assets, Foreign Exchange Transactions, Investments.
   c) Cash Flow Statement, Fund flow statement, Financial statement analysis, Ratio analysis;
   d) Accounting for Share Capital Transactions including Bonus Shares, Rights Shares.
   e) Employee Stock Option and Buy-Back of Securities.
   f) Preparation and Presentation of Company Final Accounts.
2. Management
   a) Management: its nature and scope; The Management Processes; Planning, Organization, Staffing, Directing and Controlling;
   b) The Role of a Manager in an Organization. Leadership: The Tasks of a Leader;
   c) Leadership Styles; Leadership Theories; A successful Leader versus an effective Leader.
   d) Human Resource Development: Concept of HRD; Goals of HRD;
   e) Motivation, Morale and Incentives: Theories of Motivation; How Managers Motivate; Concept of Morale; Factors determining morale; Role of Incentives in Building up Morale.
   f) Communication: Steps in the Communication Process; Communication Channels; Oral versus Written Communication; Verbal versus non-verbal Communication; upward, downward, and lateral communication; Barriers to Communication, Role of Information Technology.
3. Finance
   1) Financial System: a) Role and Functions of Regulatory bodies in the Financial Sector.
   2) Financial Markets: a) Primary and Secondary Markets (Forex, Money, Bond, Equity, etc.), functions, instruments, recent developments.
   3) General Topics: a) Basics of Derivatives: Forward, Futures, and Swap
   b) Recent Developments in the Financial Sector
   c) Financial Inclusion- use of technology
   d) Alternate source of finance, private and social cost-benefit, Public-Private Partnership
   e) Direct and Indirect taxes; Non-tax sources of Revenue, GST, Finance Commission, Fiscal Policy, Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM),
   f) Inflation: Definition, trends, estimates, consequences, and remedies (control): WPI, CPI - components and trends.
4. Costing
   1. Overview of Cost and Management Accounting - Introduction to Cost and Management Accounting, Objectives and Scope of Cost and Management Accounting.
   2. Methods of Costing - Single Output/ Unit Costing, Job Costing, Batch Costing, Contract Costing, Process/Operation Costing, Costing of Service Sectors.
   3. Basics of Cost Control and Analysis - (i) Standard Costing, (ii) Marginal Costing, (iii) Budget and Budgetary Control.
   4. Lean System and Innovation:-
   a) Introduction to Lean System
   b) Just-in-Time (JIT)
   c) Kaizen Costing
   d) 5 Ss
   e) Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)
   f) Cellular Manufacturing/ One-Piece Flow Production Systems
   g) Six Sigma (SS)
   h) Introduction to Process Innovation and Business Process Re-engineering (BPR).
5. Companies Act
   The Companies Act, 2013 – Specific reference to Chapter III, Chapter IV, Chapter VIII, Chapter X, Chapter XI, Chapter XII, and Chapter XXVII.
6. Economics
   a) Demand and Supply, Market Structures, National Income: Concepts and Measurement, Classical & Keynesian Approach, Determination of output and employment, Consumption Function, Investment Function, Multiplier and Accelerator, Demand and Supply for Money, IS – LM, Inflation and Phillips Curve, Business Cycles
   b) Balance of Payments, Foreign Exchange Markets, Inflation, Monetary and Fiscal Policy, Non-banking Financial Institutions.
7. Pension Sector
   a) Status of the pension sector in India
   b) Types of retirement schemes in India and their features
   c) National Pension System
   d) Atal Pension Yojana
   e) Annuity Plans
   f) Basics of investment

Information Technology Stream 

• Database Concepts: ER-model, relational model, normal forms, file organization, indexing (B and B+ trees), relational algebra, tuple calculus, integrity constraints, transactions, and concurrency control.
• SQL Queries: Select, view, union, intersection, truncate, delete, update, alter, inner and outer joins, aggregate functions, except, in, and exists clauses, nested queries.
• Programming Concepts (Java/C/C++): Program control (iteration, recursion), constructors, exception handling, functional and logic programming, functions, scope of variables, binding of variables & functions, parameter passing, inheritance, classes, objects, OOPS concepts.
• Algorithms for Problem Solving: Tree and graph traversals, connected components, spanning trees, shortest paths, hashing, sorting, searching, and design techniques.
• Networking Concepts: ISO/OSI stack, IP, switches, gateways, routers, LAN technologies (Ethernet, Token ring), TCP/UDP, application layer protocols (DNS, SMTP, POP, FTP, HTTP), firewalls.
• Information & Cyber Security Concepts: Cyber attacks, software development security, network security, authentication, CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability), network audit, systems audit.
• Data Warehousing: Data extraction, data cube, data mart, cleaning, transformation, loading, metadata, data models.
• Shell Programming: Shell scripting basics, loops, shell variables, script arguments, if statements, return, and basic UNIX commands.
• Data Analytics Languages (Python/R): Regex, slicing, data reshaping, dataframes, dictionaries, sets, file management, classes, functions, data mining, lists, importing/exporting data, charts, and graphs.

Research (Statistics) Stream

• 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.

Research (Economics) Stream (Common Syllabus for both phases)

• Statistics and Econometrics: Includes measures of central tendency, correlation, sampling methods, hypothesis testing, regression analysis, and time series analysis.
• Financial Institutions and Markets: Focuses on market models, money markets, stock exchanges, mutual funds, pension markets, and the role of international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank.
• Economics: Covers topics like demand and supply, market structures, inflation, fiscal and monetary policies, banking, public debt, and foreign trade.

Legal Stream (Common Syllabus for Both Phases) 

• Acts and Laws: PFRDA Act, 2013, IRDAI Act, 1999; SEBI Act, 1992. Constitution of India: Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles.
• Criminal Law: Indian Penal Code, 1860; Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
• Evidence and Civil Procedure: Indian Evidence Act, 1872; Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
• Corporate Law: Companies Act, 2013; Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
• Law of Contracts: Indian Contract Act, 1872; Partnership Act, 1932; Specific Relief Act, 1963.

Finance and Accounts Stream (Common for Both Phases) 

• Financial Statements: Trial Balance, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement, Income Statement.
• Taxation: Income Tax Act, GST, Direct and Indirect Taxes.
• Financial Markets: Primary and Secondary Markets, Derivatives, Financial Inclusion.
• Financial Analysis: Ratio Analysis, Break-Even Analysis, IND AS, Auditing Standards.
• Cost and Management Accounting: Marginal Costing, Cost Volume Profit Analysis, Capital Budgeting.

Official Language (Rajbhasha) Stream (Common for Both Phases) 

• भारत सरकार की राजभाषा नीतत (Official Language Policy of the Govt. of India) सेसंबंधित प्रश्न
• हिन्दी सेअंग्रेजी – पेंशन / प्रशासतनक / बकैंकंग / प ंजी बाजार / अर्थशास्त्र/ सामाजजक सुरक्षा शब्दावली (Pension / Administrative / Banking / CapitalMarket / Economics / Social Security Terminology)
• हिन्दी सेअंग्रेजी अनुवाद [शब्द / वाक्ांश / वाक् / Terms / Phrases / Sentences]
• अंग्रेजी सेहिन्दी अनुवाद [शब्द / वाक्ांश / वाक् / Terms / Phrases / Sentences]
• हिन्दी सेअंग्रेजी – ववधिक शब्दावली (Legal Terminology)
• अंग्रेजी सेहिन्दी – ववधिक शब्दावली (Legal Terminology)
• अंग्रेजी सेहिन्दी – पेंशन / प्रशासतनक / बकैंकंग / प ंजी बाजार / अर्थशास्त्र / सामाजजक सुरक्षा शब्दावली (Pension / Administrative / Banking / Capital Market / Economics / Social Security Terminology)