Crowd funding is not allowed in Pakistan, Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has said in an official statement, leaving techies wondering about the future of this otherwise highly lucrative source of funding for startups and projects.
SECP, in a statement issued last night, said that crowd funding is not an option for Pakistani startups and companies. It went on to clarify that a company working in the space of crowd funding called “Innovative Crowd Funding Project Pvt-Ltd Pakistan” is not registered with the Commission.
SECP, while alerting the masses, said that they should not do business with the firm or any other crowd funding website as the practice is illegal in the country.
SECP said that “Innovative Crowd Funding Project Pvt-Ltd Pakistan” is operating a Facebook page where it is explaining the concept, history and other details of crowd funding.
“It seems that the company is involved in raising funds through crowd funding. In this regard, the SECP would like to clarify that no company with the name of “Innovative Crowd Funding Project Pvt-Ltd Pakistan” is registered with it”, the statement read.
“It is further clarified that crowd funding is not allowed in Pakistan and no company can raise funds through this scheme”, the press statement further read.
In view of the above, the public is hereby warned not to be misled by fraudulent activities, investments/deposit schemes launched by certain non-corporate entities or individuals through advertising in the electronic and print media, websites, emails, mobile text messages etc.
:(
don’t name it Crowd Funding then techies… Izlamic jamhooriya main Zakat funded hi chalta hai sirf…… :)
Things like these make my blood boil..
If Govt can impose this rit ,it should first block the ngos then!
Would it even think to block the crowd funded NGO’s , they are being lead by elite?
So the company is not registered with SECP. that makes the thing “crowd funding” illegal? WTF is this?
There is no law that supports crowdfunding in Pakistan and the company in above article is also not registered with SECP (for doing any business). So in both ways it is illegal.
I understand that having not been registered with SECP lacks the trust and SECP can issue with disclaimer.
*My thoughts:
But since there is no supporting law doesn’t make it illegal at all. Is there any law stating that crowdfunding in Pakistan is illegal? I bet Pakistani lawmakers in parliament haven’t heard term crowdfunding yet. So that doesn’t make it illegal.
Waqas, it looks like you don’t have background of how regulatory authorities work.
Bhai, the SECP does not give a ‘disclaimer’ and let someone continue doing illegal business activities. Regulatory authorities don’t disclaim rather they impose law!
“But since there is no supporting law doesn’t make it illegal at all”. There are NBFC Laws & Regulations that allow NBFCs to raise capital following those rules.
NGOs are still needed to be registered. So even if it’s a crowd funded thing, it has to be a registered business.
Crowd fund block krna is fine, Q k yha p log bewqoof bnane k liye startup krte hn phr bnd krdete, aur jo invest krte hn wo kush nh kr pate (Gold Mine International, etc).
Aur Crowd fund ek acha way bh hota h new startups k liye, ta k new startup apne ideas ko business m convert kr ske.
Crowd funding main fund krne walay andhay log nahi hotay bhai na bewaqoof. Dekh samajh kar hi log pledge krte hain.
Aur jo log dhookay k liay krte hain to woh to har level pe mojoud hain log.
What NGOs are doing then??
The company is not allowed to operate here or the whole idea of crowd funding is illegal? This article is very confusing. Almost a clickbait.
I understand that Crowd Funding takes funds from public or general public investors without the subject of taxes, i believe SECP needs to work on laws for crowd funding. Keeping in mind that in Pakistan, we are masterminds of scams that’s why we are not allowed for business in few of the major global financial platforms. Hopefully we will get news on laws on crowd funding…
SECP: Only big bankers and industrialists can raise money, the rest are peasants.
Thank you SECP.