Chhattisgarh Wednesday said it was keen to adopt Value Added Tax (VAT) in an apparent rethink prompted by a reported revenue loss of over Rs.2.5 billion for staying away from the new tax regime.

"Chhattisgarh is desperate to join the VAT regime. It's just a matter of time, the state cannot be adamant on the issue," Chhattisgarh's Finance and Commercial Taxes Minister Amar Agrawal told.

"But the central government has to agree for compensating the sales taxes losses which the state would suffer once it joins VAT."

The VAT regime came into force April 1 this year but the five Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand besides Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal stayed away.

"Chhattisgarh is keen to join the VAT regime but our differences with the central government still persist. Our decision will basically depend on the centre," Agrawal said.

He said the centre must come out with a clear cut stand on how much it would compensate the state for sales tax losses and what would be the state's share in the central goods and service tax.

Agrawal, however, rejected a statement by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Babulal Gaur given in New Delhi Saturday that BJP-ruled states would join the VAT regime within two months.

"Chhattisgarh has no discussion at any level with Gaur and we have our own problems. In fact, the trader communities here have been strongly opposing VAT," the minister remarked.

The state's leading industrial panel, Chhattisgarh Chamber of Commerce and Industries, led by its chairman Puranlal Agrawal met Chief Minister Raman Singh Tuesday and advised him to not take any hasty decision on the issue.