A host of reforms by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for the ease of doing business led to a corporate growth of 39 percent in February as compared to the same month last year.
The Corporate Registrar had incorporated 2,257 new companies and startups in February, of which 99 percent were incorporated online and 30 percent applicants were issued registration certificates on the same day.
Furthermore, 175 new foreign users were also registered from overseas, taking the total number of registered companies to 137,054.
This sizeable growth is a result of the SECP’s various measures that include the introduction of a simplified combined process for name reservation and incorporation, the reduction of fees, the facility of online payments, the issuance of digital certificates of registration and assistance provided for incorporation by the newly-established Business Centre.
Sixty-eight percent of the newly-registered companies were registered as private limited companies, 30 percent as single-member companies, and two percent as public unlisted companies and not-for-profit associations, foreign companies, and limited liability partnerships (LLP).
Foreign investment was reported in 52 new companies in February. These companies have foreign investors from Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong, Korea South, Kuwait, Lebanon, Norway, Oman, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, the UAE, the UK, Ukraine, and the United States.
The trading sector took the lead among the new registrations with the incorporation of 354 companies, IT with 272, construction with 220, services with 216, real estate development with 163, corporate agricultural farming with 99, e-commerce with 92, food and beverages with 81, education with 65, textile with 60, healthcare with 56, engineering with 47, market & development and pharmaceutical with 43 each, chemical with 39, tourism with 36, transport with 35, auto & allied with 32, cosmetics & toiletries and mining & quarrying with 29 each, cables & electric goods with 27, fuel & energy with 23, broadcasting & telecasting with 22, communications with 20, logging with 19, paper & board with 16, steel & allied with 14, power generation with 13, wood & wood products with 11, and 81 companies were registered in other sectors.
The highest numbers of companies totaling 765 were registered in Islamabad, followed by 634 and 361 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi respectively.
The CROs in Multan, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Quetta, and Sukkur registered 161, 153, 79, 63, 32, and nine companies respectively.
Courtesy: Pro Pakistani