Bharti Infratel Ltd's initial public offering (IPO), which opened for retail investors on Tuesday, will test investors' sentiment for Indian IPOs.

Bharti Infratel, a division of India's leading mobile-phone services provider Bharti Airtel Ltd., has priced the issue at Rs 210-240 per share. At the lower end of the price band it would garner Rs 3,967 crore, while at the upper end it would raise nearly Rs 4,534 crore.

The equity shares have been listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE). The issue will close on 14th of December.

It will be the country's largest IPO in two years. Companies remained reluctant to issue any big IPO over the last two years, mainly due to pessimistic sentiments among investors.

Thus Bharti Infratel's IPO will test the scale of foreign investors' willingness to invest in Indian companies.

Premal Doshi, head of equity markets at Mumbai-based investment bank Ambit Corporate Finance PPE Ltd., said, "The recent government reforms gave an impetus to companies who had the approvals for a share sale, and were waiting for an opportune time."

While last year foreign institutional investors had sold a net $358 million of their shares in Indian companies, this year foreign institutions have invested a net $21 billion into Indian stocks.

So far tthis year, India's benchmark thirty-share Sensex has jumped nearly 26 per cent year-on-year.