Interest on refund of income tax

Yes. You can claim for interest of the litigation period. 

Interest is to be paid for the period between 1st day of april of assessment year relevant and actual date of refund. The delay should not be because of assessee however. Rate of interest is fixed by law and you can move court for extra. Remember that interest on refund is also taxable.

Thank you for the replies. A few clarifications:

1. You have stated that I can claim for the litigation period - but what RATE?  - Is it only 0.5% per month OR it can be 1-1.5% per month.

2.  You have also talked about proceeding to the court - are there any case laws which suggest that courts have decided in favour of the assessee for higher interest compensations.

Thanks... Sharad

Also, I am not worried about the technicalities (eg., starting from 1st April, etc etc) since the stakes are high. The amount of refund was around 40 lacs and therefore I am hurt on both the counts: 

1. The low rate of interest of only 6% (ie., 0.5% per month) &

2. The delay in releasing the refund of around 10 months for no reasons despite my innumerable visits/letters/reminders/grievances on the cpgrams website/etc.

Thanks... Sharad

CURRENTLY  only 6 % INTERST ON REFUND IS  ALLOWED AS PER it LAW. a HIGH LEVEL COMMITTEE OR PANEL made  SOME RECOMMENDATIONS IN  THIS REGARD.  For DELAY OF MORE THAN 6 MOTHS IS MADE FOR REFUND 12% INTERST IS PAYABLE AND IF MORE THAN A YEARS SDEALY IS MADE 18% INTEREST IS PAYABLE. sO U CAN'T GET 18%  INTEREST ASCLAIMED BY YOU FR Q10 MONTHW  DELAY.

CURRENTLY  only 6 % INTERST ON REFUND IS  ALLOWED AS PER it LAW. a HIGH LEVEL COMMITTEE OR PANEL made  SOME RECOMMENDATIONS IN  THIS REGARD.  For DELAY OF MORE THAN 6 MOTHS IS MADE FOR REFUND 12% INTERST IS PAYABLE AND IF MORE THAN A YEARS SDEALY IS MADE 18% INTEREST IS PAYABLE. sO U CAN'T GET 18%  INTEREST ASCLAIMED BY YOU FR Q10 MONTHW  DELAY.

you can claim interest for further 10 months. But you cannot claim more than 6% because it is fixed by GOVT. And it is also taxable income.