In November 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 1,060 new companies, showing a growth of 20 percent when compared with the companies the Commission registered during the corresponding period last year.
With the fresh registration, the ber of registered companies increased to 93,157.
The massive increase is the result of the SECP’s various reforms measures, i.e. introduction of a simplified combined process for name reservation and incorporation, reduction of the fee, the assistance of incorporation by facilitation wings of CROs etc.
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Around 72 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, while around 26 percent were registered as single member companies. Two percent were registered as public unlisted, non-profit associations and limited liability partnership (LLP).
The trading sector took the lead with the incorporation of 165 companies, services with 153, construction with 120, I.T. with 117, tourism with 69, real estate development with 37, food and beverages with 35, corporate agricultural farming, education, and marketing and advertisement with 32 each, engineering with 30, transport with 23, fuel and energy with 19, healthcare with 16, textile with 15, auto and allied, communication, logging, mining & quarrying, and pharmaceutical with 14 each, and 95 companies were registered in other sectors.
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Foreign investment has been reported in 36 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Greece, Korea South, Kuwait, Madagascar, Malaysia, Oman, Spain, Turkey, and the UK.
The highest numbers of companies, i.e. 408 were registered in Islamabad, followed by 261 and 201 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi, respectively. The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Quetta, and Sukkur registered, 62, 58, 30, 23, 13 and four companies, respectively.
