In a clear message to states, the Centre on Saturday said that the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) can't be a limited one and it will have to be applicable on larger number of goods. This strong indication has come at a time when state governments are asking for more products like liquor, tobacco and petroleum to be excluded from the list of goods on which the yet to be implemented tax will be liable.

"The Empowered Committee has with regard to certain items expressed an opinion that they be kept out. Now too many items cannot be kept out because the larger object itself could get defeated," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters while addressing his maiden press conference after taking over as Finance Minister.

He indicated that the issue is being discussed with the states. Finance Ministers of states are also in the process of harmonising the exemption lists of states and the Centre which have 96 and 243 items, respectively.

The GST will subsume indirect taxes like excise duty and service tax at the central level and VAT on the states front, besides local levies. Different states have different concern on GST. While Madhya Pradesh has a different issue, Punjab has an issue with regard to mandi tax.

Besides, Gujarat has raised the matter with regard to some other tax. "I discussed with the Finance Minister and Chief Minister of West Bengal. I discussed with Finance Minister of Gujarat and with one or two other states which have issues in mind, I do intend to discuss with them (again)," he said.

The rollout of new indirect tax regime has missed several deadlines because of lack of consensus among states over certain crucial issues on the new tax regime.

Meanwhile ahead of the hearing on coal blocks allocations issue on Monday, Jaitley  exuded hope that a decision on the fate of the 218 coal blocks is taken expeditiously post-judgement.

"We cannot allow the fate of the coal blocks to hang in mid-air ... They need to be utilised for the purpose for which coal is utilised and therefore whether the existing allotees are to use it or it is to put to a fresh allotment process, I do hope that this decision does not linger on. The future fate of these is decided expeditiously."

If resources cannot be utilised, its adverse impact is inevitable and therefore "we hope that this uncertainty should not continue for long time".

His remarks followed the Supreme Court on August 25 holding that all coal block allocations made since 1993 till 2010 before pre-auction era during previous NDA and UPA regimes have been done in an illegal manner by an "ad-hoc and casual" approach "without application of mind".

The silver-lining in the judgement is that it moves the system towards the fairer methodology of allocation of resources. It takes away from the government the power of arbitrary allocation of resources," Jaitley told reporters.

Asked about the fate of the blocks, Jaitley said, "this depends on how and what shape the litigation in the Supreme Court further takes."

Regarding the changes being contemplated upon within the Government in the land acquisition law, the Finance Minister said, "I have started working on the administration of the new land acquisition law. States and Centre are both realising the challenges and I am going to discuss with major political parties, as to whether some more flexibility could be available. And when I say flexibility, I have in mind a slight enlargement of the exemptions."

Corporates have expressed concerns over the implementation of land acquisition law saying it could impact economic development in the country.

Under the Act, it is mandatory to take consent of 80 per cent of people whose land is taken for private projects. In the case of Public-Private Partnership projects, the consent of 70 per cent of the people would be required.