LAHORE: In May, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 1,094 new companies. As compared to the corresponding month of last financial year, it represents a growth of 17 per cent, raising the total number of registered companies to 86,876. The massive increase is the result of the SECP’s various reforms measures, i.e. introduction of a simplified combined process for name reservation and incorporation, reduction of fee, the assistance of incorporation by facilitation wings of CROs etc.
Around 76 per cent companies were registered as private limited companies, while around 22 per cent were registered as single member companies. Two per cent were registered as public unlisted, non-profit associations and foreign companies.
The trading sector took the lead with the incorporation of 178 companies, services with 153, information technology with 135, construction with 132, tourism with 42, food and beverages with 39, real estate development with 36, education with 33, engineering with 32, corporate agricultural farming with 26, transport with 21, textile, pharmaceutical, marketing and advertisement with 19 each, auto and allied with 18, broadcasting and telecasting with 16, chemical, fuel and energy and health care with 12 each, communication and power generation with 11 each and 118 companies were registered in other sectors. Moreover, 5 foreign companies were also registered by CRO Islamabad and Karachi.
Foreign investment has been reported in 56 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Iran, Jordan, Korea (South), Lebanon, Nepal, the Netherlands, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tanzania, Turkey, Ukraine and the US.
The highest numbers of companies, i.e. 402 were registered in Islamabad, followed by 271 and 226 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi respectively. The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Gilgit-Baltistan Faisalabad, Quetta, and Sukkur registered 60, 42, 39, 31, 14 and 9 companies respectively.
