ISLAMABAD: In October, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 1,395 new companies, indicating a growth of 63 percent as compared to the corresponding month of last financial year, while over 50 percent companies were registered within four hours after receiving the registration application. The total number of companies registered with the SECP has risen to 92,109.
The massive increase is the result of the SECP’s various reforms measures, i.e. introduction of simplified combined process for name reservation and incorporation, reduction of fee, assistance of incorporation by facilitation wings of CROs etc.
Around 73 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, while around 25 percent were registered as single-member companies. Two percent were registered as public unlisted, non-profit associations, foreign companies and limited liability partnership (LLP).
The trading sector took the lead with the incorporation of 213 companies, construction with 183, services with 170, I.T. with 150, tourism with 90, marketing and advertisement with 47, real estate development with 43, engineering with 39, food and beverages with 38, corporate agricultural farming, and transport with 37 each, education with 36, healthcare with 27, mining and quarrying with 24, textile with 23, chemical, and pharmaceutical with 21 each, auto allied with 19, logging with 18, communication with 15, fuel and energy with 14, paper and board with 13, steel and allied with 11 and 106 companies were registered in other sectors. Moreover, two foreign companies were also registered by CROs Islamabad.
Foreign investment has been reported in 65 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, the UK and the US.
The highest numbers of companies, i.e. 530 were registered in Islamabad, followed by 398 and 242 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi respectively. The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Quetta, and Sukkur registered, 75, 69, 41, 24, 8 and 8 companies respectively.
