Before an operational creditor may file an application for initiation of the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, it must serve a demand notice under Section 8 and allow the corporate debtor how many days to pay the dues or bring the existence of a dispute to its notice?

Section 8(1) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 requires an operational creditor to deliver a demand notice of the unpaid operational debt to the corporate debtor. Section 8(2) gives the corporate debtor ten days from the receipt of the notice either to repay the debt or to bring to the notice of the creditor the existence of a dispute, or the pendency of a suit or arbitration proceedings in respect of the debt. Under section 9(1), the operational creditor may file an application for initiation of the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process only after these ten days have elapsed without payment and without a dispute being raised. The shorter and longer periods in the other options do not match the statutory ten-day window, so ten days is the correct answer.