ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 2,234 new companies in November 2023, showing a growth of 8% as compared to the corresponding period of last financial year. The total number of registered companies now stands at 207,654.
Meanwhile total capitalization (paid-up capital) with regard to newly incorporated companies for the current month stood at Rs. 7.74 billion.
As per details, about 58% companies were registered as private limited companies, while 39 % were registered as single member companies. The remaining 3% were registered as public unlisted companies, not for profit associations, trade organizations, and limited liability partnerships (LLP) and Foreign Companies.
In the same period, two foreign companies have also established a place of business in Pakistan. Almost 99.6 % of the companies were registered online, while 0.4% were incorporated offline. It is important to note that 116 foreign applicants were registered through eServices.
The information technology and trading sectors took the lead with incorporation of 313 companies each , services with 271, real estate development & construction with 243, tourism with 106, food & beverages with 83, education with 76, mining & quarrying with 67, marketing & advertisement with 56, corporate agricultural farming with 52, transport and engineering with 51 each ,ecommerce and power generation with 48 each, pharmaceutical with 41, textile with 38, , chemical with 35, fuel and energy with 32, healthcare with 29, broadcasting & telecasting with 26, lodging with 25, cosmetics & toiletries with 19, communications and paper & board with 12 each, and cables & electrical goods with 11. 176 companies were registered in “other” sectors in November.
As a result of integration of SECP with FBR and various provincial departments, 2,169 companies were registered with FBR for registration of NTN, 57 companies with EOBI, 39 companies with PESSI/SESSI and 38 companies with excise and taxation department.
Foreign investment has been reported in 72 new companies, having foreign investors from Afghanistan, Australia, Azerbaijan, China, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Iran, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, UAE, UK, and the USA. A major chunk of this investment was received from China in 44 companies, Turkey invested in 4, Azerbaijan in 3, Afghanistan, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands and US in 2 each.
The SECP also has a dedicated WhatsApp facility for instant resolution of the queries pertaining to name availability and incorporation process. During this month, around 1,172 queries were responded to.
