The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has registered 16,929 new companies during 2019-20, indicating a growth of 17 percent compared with the corresponding financial year. This has raised the total number of registered companies to 120,395.
According to the annual report of the SECP for 2019-20, in the new incorporations, approximately 71 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, 26 percent were registered as single-member companies.
Three percent were registered as public unlisted, association’s not-for-profit, trade organizations, foreign companies and limited liability partnership. In 2019-20, 98percent companies were registered online and around 44 percent companies registered same day.
In the period under review, trading sector took a lead with the incorporation of 2,863 companies, followed by IT with 2,027, services with 1,929, construction with 1,752, tourism with 829, real estate development with 773, food and beverages 637, education with 609, corporate agricultural farming with 496, engineering with 437, marketing and development with 398, textile with 370, pharmaceutical with 349, mining and quarrying 294, healthcare with 284, transport with 282, chemical with 264, auto and allied with 195, fuel and energy 189, logging with 186, e-commerce with 181, communication with 165, cosmetics and toiletries with 157, broadcasting and telecasting with 152, power generation with 142, cable and electric goods with 140, paper and board with 134, steel and allied 74, arts and culture with 53, wood and wood products with 50 and 518 companies in other sectors.
Foreign investment has been reported in 550 new companies. Moreover, 27 foreign companies have established places of business in Pakistan during the last fiscal year, SECP report added.
