The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has registered 1,387 new companies in November, indicating an increase of 30 % as compared to corresponding period last year. The total number of registered companies reached 108,433.
The substantial increase is result of SECP’s recent reforms to simplify the registration processes and reduce incorporation and regulatory forms tariffs. Among new incorporations, around 72 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, while around 25 percent were registered as single member companies. Three percent were registered as public unlisted companies, not for profit associations, foreign companies and Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) whereas 96 % companies were registered online. During the month 130 foreign users completed registration process from overseas.
The trading sector took the lead with the incorporation of 237, services with 165, I.T. with 159, construction with 151, tourism with 77, real estate development with 66, education with 65, food and beverages with 51, corporate agricultural farming with 39, engineering, and pharmaceutical with 35 each, marketing & development with 33, textile with 27, transport with 25, chemical with 24, auto and allied 21, healthcare with 19, mining and quarrying with 16, electric goods, and logging with 12 each, broadcasting and telecasting, and fuel and energy with 11 each, and 96 companies were registered in other sectors.
Foreign investment has been reported in 61 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from, Bahrain, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Korea South, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, the UK and the US.
The highest numbers of companies – 477 – were registered in Islamabad, followed by 358 and 282 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi respectively. The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Faisalabad, Quetta, and Sukkur registered, 106, 64, 48, 42, seven and three companies respectively.