New Delhi, Dec 31 (IANS): The government has no proposal to replace the National Pension Scheme (NPS) with the old pension scheme due to rising and unsustainable pension bill and competing claims on the economy, Parliament was informed on Monday.

"There is no proposal to replace the National Pension Scheme with old pension scheme in respect of Central Government employees recruited on or after January 1, 2004," Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

The Minister, in his reply to Shimla MP Virender Kahsyap, said the pension bill had been rising and had become unsustainable. A total of Rs 1,56,641.29 crore was spent paying pension during 2017-18.

Shukla said that the mandatory contribution by the central government for Tier 1 accounts of its employees covered under NPS had been enhanced from the existing 10 to 14 per cent, which will entail an additional financial impact of Rs 2,840 crore in 2019-20.

The number of family pensioners getting pension through Central Pension Accounting Office by authorised bank under the NPS as on November 30 was 4,779, he added.