ISLAMABAD: The recent measures of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to make the process of companies’ incorporation easy and hassle-free has led to 19pc increase in the registration of new companies in October 2019, according to a statement issued by the commission on Wednesday.
During the month under review, the SECP registered 1,659 new companies, raising the number of total registered companies to 107,062.
In October 2019, 71pc companies were registered as private limited companies, 26pc were registered as single-member companies while three per cent were registered as public unlisted companies, not for profit associations, foreign companies and Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).
Amongst new incorporations, 96pc companies were registered online while 43pc were registered on the same day. During the month, 98 foreign users completed their registration process from abroad.
The trading sector took the lead with 288 incorporations, followed by IT with 203, services with 192, construction with 167, tourism with 94, real estate development with 75, education with 62, food and beverages with 51, engineering with 49, marketing & development with 41, corporate agricultural farming with 40, transport with 33, textile with 31, pharmaceutical with 30, mining and quarrying with 28, communication with 27, chemical, fuel & energy, and logging with 24 each, healthcare with 23, auto and allied with 20, power generation with 14, cables and electric goods with 13, paper and board with 12, cosmetics and toiletries with 11 and 83 companies were registered in other sectors.
Foreign investment has been reported in 42 new companies. The investors belonged to Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Iran, Kenya, Lebanon, Malaysia, Norway, Oman, Qatar Singapore, UAE, UK and US.
The highest numbers of companies, i.e. 618 were registered in Islamabad, followed by 441 and 289 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi, respectively. The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Faisalabad, Quetta, and Sukkur registered 122, 65, 64, 37, 20 and 3 companies, respectively.
