The committee will comprise chief ministers of West Bengal, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Orissa and Arunachal Pradesh, Sinha said at the end of a day-long conference of chief ministers and state finance ministers held in Delhi.

The committee will formulate a schedule for implementation of uniform floor sales-tax rates and will submit its report by November 15.

It will recommend phasing out sales-tax based incentive schemes and suggest time frame for introduction of VAT and reduction of central sales tax. Other terms of reference of the committee was to define the criteria for backward areas.

The meeting on Monday, which was attended by six chief ministers, arrived at a consensus for tighter regulation, effective supervision and monitoring of non-banking finance companies(NBFCs).

Enactment of suitable legislation for speedy attachment of assets and winding up of defrauding NBFCs was suggested so that receipts from the sale of these assets will be shared by all creditors.

Sinha said the legislation will be on lines of the Tamil Nadu Act for protection of interest of depositors in relation to unincorporated NBFCs.

He proposed to associate state governments with the process of enquiry before registration of NBFCs and share with the states information regarding fraudulent and unregistered companies for timely and effective criminal action.

Centre will give wide publicity concerning regulatory regime and investment risks, Sinha said.

Unauthorised deposit-taking by finance companies was proposed to be made a cognisable offence, Sinha said, adding that there should be a single window for dealing with depositors' grievances.

He suggested that state governments set up cells at state and district levels to help disseminate information relating to redressal of depositorsgrievances.

On taxation, there was a general consensus among states for introduction of VAT. Some states expressed the view that arrangements will have to be made to compensate them for any loss of revenue in the transition period.

State governments recognised the danger of the rate war which resulted in unhealthy competition and loss of revenue.

The four floor rates of sales tax suggested by the committee of state finance ministers were generally found to be acceptable.