The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 26,502 new companies in FY 2021-22, which shows an increase of 4pc as compared to previous FY. The total number of registered companies with SECP now stands at 172,206 Real estate development & construction sector led the number of new incorporations with 4,791 new companies registered, followed by information technology with 3,760 new companies and trading with 3,534 new companies. As a result of end-to-end digitization of the company incorporation process, about 99.5pc of companies were registered online while 1,640 foreign users were registered from overseas. Total capitalization (paid-up-capital) with regard to newly incorporated companies for the current month stood at Rs42.4b. SECP has made significant reforms to facilitate the registration of companies by fully digitizing the registration process, along with company registration certificates. With this automation, companies can now be registered online from any part of the world, without needing to visit SECP offices. SECP’s e-services have been integrated with Provincial Revenue Departments to facilitate registration of companies with Provincial Revenue Departments at the time of incorporation. Company tax numbers are also issued online. In addition, an online portal has also been created for banks to facilitate companies in opening corporate accounts after registration. SECP has launched a WhatsApp helpline as well to provide immediate assistance to the investors. All these measures led to notable improvements in ease of doing business, one result of which can be seen through steady increase in the number of new incorporations. During fiscal year 2022, nearly 64pc companies were registered as private limited companies, while 33pc were registered as single member companies. 3pc were registered as public unlisted companies, not for profit associations, foreign companies and limited liability partnership (LLP). Foreign investment has been reported in 672 new companies from Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Burma (Myanmar), Canada, China, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea South, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the UAE, the UK Ukraine, the USA, Vietnam, Yemen and Zambia. As a result of integration of SECP with FBR and various provincial departments, 25,042 companies were registered with FBR for generation of NTN, 539 companies with EOBI, 234 companies with PESSI/SESSI and 343 companies with Excise and Taxation department.