The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 2,864 new companies in July 2024, marking a 25% increase from the same month last year and the highest number of companies ever registered in a single month.
According to a press release, the total number of registered companies now stands at 225,561.
In July 2024, 58% of the new companies were registered as private limited companies, 39% as single-member companies, and the remaining 3% as public unlisted companies, not-for-profit associations, trade organizations, and limited liability partnerships. An impressive 99.8% of companies were registered online.
The information technology sector led with 471 new incorporations, followed by trading with 364 companies, services with 362, real estate development and construction with 284, and tourism with 164.
Other notable sectors included food and beverages with 139 new companies, ecommerce with 120, education with 111, textile with 65, marketing and advertisement with 64, corporate agricultural farming with 63, chemicals with 53, healthcare and power generation with 51 each, cosmetics and toiletries, and mining and quarrying with 47 each.
The sectors of fuel and energy saw 46 new companies, engineering 43, pharmaceutical 40, transport 32, auto and allied 27, communications 23, cables and electric goods 22, arts and culture 18, paper and board, and sports and allied sectors 17 each, logging 16, and 107 companies were registered in other sectors.
Foreign investment was reported in 86 new companies, primarily from investors in Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, China, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the UK, the US, and Zambia.
The majority of foreign investment came from China, with 64 new companies, followed by Turkey with 3, and Afghanistan and the UK with 2 each. Other countries contributed to the remaining investments.
