The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has registered 1,323 new companies in May.
As compared to the corresponding month of the last financial year, it represents a 21% growth, raising the number of registered companies to 100,532.
The massive increase is the result of the SECP’s various reforms, i.e. introduction of a simplified combined process for name reservation and incorporation, one window facility for incorporation along with NTN generation, reduction in fee and assistance provided by facilitation wings at major CROs.
Around 73% of the companies were registered as private limited companies and another 24 percent as single-member companies.
Public unlisted companies, nonprofit associations, foreign companies, and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) accounted for the remaining 3%. Around 55% of the companies were registered on a single day.
The SECP has upgraded its browser’s compatibility and now other browsers, in addition to Internet Explorer, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge, Safari and Opera can be used for name reservation and company incorporation.
Sector-Wise Registration
The trading sector took the lead with the incorporation of 199 companies. It was followed by services with 162, I.T. with 153, construction with 136, tourism with 74, food and beverages with 59, corporate agricultural farming with 56, real estate development with 55, education with 41, marketing/advertisement, textile with 40 and engineering with 29.
Twenty-three companies belong to the pharmaceutical sector, 21 to transport, 19 each to logging and mining/quarrying, 18 to fuel and energy, 15 each to broadcasting, healthcare, auto and allied, 13 to chemical, 12 to cosmetics and toiletries, 11 each to communication and power generation. Other sectors accounted for 87 companies.
City-Wise Registration
The highest number of companies (500) were registered in Islamabad, followed by 362 and 231 companies in Lahore and Karachi respectively.
The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Quetta, and Sukkur registered 74, 60, 48, 37, 9 and 2 companies respectively.
Foreign Investment
Foreign investment has been reported in 67 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from Bahrain, Chile, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Korea South, Kuwait, Lebanon, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey, UK, and the US.
