Key Takeaways
- • freefincal has published its National Pension Scheme (NPS) Fund Screener for November 2026, a Rs. 150 Excel tool designed to shortlist NPS schemes that consistently outperform their category benchmarks.
- • The screener measures three metrics over rolling 1Y, 2Y, 3Y, 4Y and 5Y periods: rolling return outperformance consistency, upside performance consistency and downside protection consistency.
- • The screener also flags schemes with positive excess return and negative excess risk relative to their benchmark over trailing 1- to 5-year windows.
- • The publisher states that NPS schemes are not index funds, that benchmarks for non-equity schemes are only notional, and that the file contains no buy or sell recommendations.
- • Suggested screening approaches include setting 3Y and 5Y rolling outperformance consistency above 60% to 70%, or targeting 60% to 70% downside-protection consistency over 3Y and 5Y.
Summary
freefincal has released its National Pension Scheme Fund Screener for November 2026, a spreadsheet intended to help users identify NPS schemes that have outperformed category benchmarks consistently while maintaining adequate downside protection. The tool is modelled on the publisher's existing Equity Mutual Fund Performance Screener. The screener is sold for Rs. 150 for personal use, or 5 USD via PayPal for buyers outside India, and is delivered as an Excel file that can be filtered in any spreadsheet software.
The screener's core reward measure is rolling return outperformance consistency, calculated by comparing each scheme's rolling returns with its category benchmark across every possible 1Y, 2Y, 3Y, 4Y and 5Y period. The publisher's illustration uses a hypothetical count of 876 comparisons with 675 outperformances, yielding a 77% consistency score. Two further measures address risk and reward asymmetry: upside performance consistency, which captures how often a scheme beat its benchmark when the benchmark rose, and downside performance consistency, which captures how often it beat the benchmark when the benchmark fell. Both are derived from rolling upside and downside capture data.
The file also offers an excess risk and excess return screen. Using an example from ICICI Prudential Pension Fund Scheme E - Tier I, the publisher shows a 1-year trailing excess return of 12.385% alongside a negative excess risk of -0.140%, which the screen would flag as favourable. The publisher notes that this example is illustrative only and does not reflect current data.
The publisher lists benchmarks by category, including Nifty 200 TRI and Nifty 50 TRI for equity schemes, IBEX for gilt and government schemes, and CRISIL composite and hybrid indices for alternative assets, corporate bonds, Atal Pension Yojana schemes and hybrid schemes. It cautions that benchmarks for non-equity schemes are only notional and may not represent their asset class well, and that user discretion is advised. The publisher also stresses that NPS schemes are not index funds and are expected to beat their benchmarks.
The publisher recommends setting filters that yield a shortlist of roughly five to six funds rather than an overly narrow screen. The file contains no buy or sell recommendations, and the publisher disclaims any guarantee of error-free data or of monthly updates. The product page also promotes the publisher's robo-advisory tool and two courses at a discount.
The screener's core reward measure is rolling return outperformance consistency, calculated by comparing each scheme's rolling returns with its category benchmark across every possible 1Y, 2Y, 3Y, 4Y and 5Y period. The publisher's illustration uses a hypothetical count of 876 comparisons with 675 outperformances, yielding a 77% consistency score. Two further measures address risk and reward asymmetry: upside performance consistency, which captures how often a scheme beat its benchmark when the benchmark rose, and downside performance consistency, which captures how often it beat the benchmark when the benchmark fell. Both are derived from rolling upside and downside capture data.
The file also offers an excess risk and excess return screen. Using an example from ICICI Prudential Pension Fund Scheme E - Tier I, the publisher shows a 1-year trailing excess return of 12.385% alongside a negative excess risk of -0.140%, which the screen would flag as favourable. The publisher notes that this example is illustrative only and does not reflect current data.
The publisher lists benchmarks by category, including Nifty 200 TRI and Nifty 50 TRI for equity schemes, IBEX for gilt and government schemes, and CRISIL composite and hybrid indices for alternative assets, corporate bonds, Atal Pension Yojana schemes and hybrid schemes. It cautions that benchmarks for non-equity schemes are only notional and may not represent their asset class well, and that user discretion is advised. The publisher also stresses that NPS schemes are not index funds and are expected to beat their benchmarks.
The publisher recommends setting filters that yield a shortlist of roughly five to six funds rather than an overly narrow screen. The file contains no buy or sell recommendations, and the publisher disclaims any guarantee of error-free data or of monthly updates. The product page also promotes the publisher's robo-advisory tool and two courses at a discount.
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