Retirement funds in India

29 live funds in the Retirement category, ordered by 5-year return, highest first; ICICI Prudential Retirement Fund - Pure Equity leads. Funds younger than five years follow by name. Returns are for the plan each fund's page leads with, Direct where the fund has one, to each fund's latest NAV, the newest of them on 27 Oct 2026; 3 and 5 year returns are a year, compounded.

Category median, 1 year
−2.73%Middle of 29 funds
Category median, 3 years
+8.50%Middle of 27 funds
Category median, 5 years
+7.83%Middle of 25 funds

Retirement funds

Size is the average money the fund managed over its latest quarter. Cost is its yearly expense ratio.Filter them in the screener

NAV of 27 Oct 2026

Tax on retirement funds

Tax depends on the fund's own mix. With 65% or more in shares of listed Indian companies, gains on units held over 12 months are taxed at 12.5% above ₹1.25 lakh a year, and gains on units held 12 months or less at 20%; with more than 65% in debt and money market instruments, gains on units bought on or after 1 Apr 2023 are taxed at the income tax slab rate however long they are held, and on units bought earlier at 12.5% after 24 months; otherwise, gains on units held over 24 months are taxed at 12.5%, and gains on units held 24 months or less at the income tax slab rate.

Rules in force from 1 Apr 2025, checked 27 Oct 2026. Surcharge and cess are not included.

About retirement funds in India

Retirement funds in India are mutual funds built for saving towards retirement, with units locked in for at least five years or until retirement age, whichever comes first. Each fund sets its own mix of equity and debt. Since 20 Mar 2026, SEBI lets a fund house keep its retirement fund or stop new subscriptions and merge it.

What SEBI requires

SEBI's 2017 categorisation placed the Retirement Fund under solution oriented schemes, alongside the Children's Fund. A retirement fund must carry a lock-in of at least five years or until retirement age, whichever is earlier; a lock-in is a period in which units cannot be redeemed. SEBI sets no asset mix for the category, so each fund states its own in its scheme document.

The 2026 changes

SEBI's circular of 26 Feb 2026 discontinued the solution oriented category and told its schemes to stop subscriptions and merge into similar schemes. The Master Circular of 20 Mar 2026 relaxed this: a fund house may continue its Retirement Fund, but then may not launch a 30-year life cycle fund. One that keeps both its retirement and children's funds may launch only the 5, 10, 15 and 25-year life cycle funds, and one that drops both must stop their subscriptions and merge them.

Plans within one fund

Many fund houses run their retirement fund as several plans by risk, from a mostly equity plan through hybrid plans to a mostly debt plan, and the page lists each plan as its own fund. Equity means company shares; debt means loans to companies and governments that pay interest. A plan with more equity moves more with the stock market and carries a higher riskometer level.

Because of this, the category median shown above the page's 5-year ranking mixes equity-heavy and debt-heavy plans, and returns are for the Direct plan where a fund has one.

How the lock-in works

The lock-in runs from the allotment of each purchase, so every instalment of a SIP (a fixed amount invested on a set date each month) has its own lock-in and becomes free to redeem on its own date. The scheme information document states each fund's exact lock-in and exit load.

Retirement, children's and life cycle funds

A children's fund has the same five-year minimum lock-in, ending instead when the child reaches the age of majority. A life cycle fund, the category SEBI added in 2026, has no lock-in: it carries a maturity year in its name, cuts its equity share on a fixed schedule as that year nears, and charges an exit load of up to 3% in the first three years.