ISLAMABAD
The number of companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) during the fiscal year 2016-17 registered a 34 percent growth with 8,286 new companies registering increasing the total number of registered companies to 81,493 in the country.
Despite lower economic activity in June 2017 due to Ramadan and Eid holidays, the SECP registered 595 new companies in the month.
Out of these, about 86 per cent companies were registered as private limited, around 12 per cent companies were single member companies and two per cent were registered as public unlisted, trade organizations and foreign companies.
The service sector took the lead with the incorporation of 96 new companies, followed by trading sector with 86, construction with 84, information technology with 57, tourism with 35, education with 24, food and beverages with 19, corporate agricultural farming with 16, real estate development and textile with 14 each, auto and allied with 13, engineering and fuel and energy with 12 each, pharmaceutical, healthcare and transport with 10 each, and 83 companies were registered in other sectors. Moreover, two foreign companies were registered at the Company Registration Offices in Karachi and Islamabad.
The growing trend in company registration is the direct result of numerous reforms and facilitation measures undertaken by the SECP.
The reforms aimed at simplifying procedures for business start-up, removing bottlenecks for timely regulatory approvals and reducing cost of starting a business, especially for small and medium enterprises.
