The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered almost 2,600 new companies in March 2023.
This shows an increase of 10 percent as compared to the corresponding month of last year. The total number of registered companies now stands at 190,161. The total capitalization (paid-up capital) with regard to newly incorporated companies for the current month stood at Rs. 1.8 billion.
Around 58 percent of companies were registered as private limited companies, while 39 percent were registered as single-member companies. Around 3 percent were registered as public unlisted companies, not-for-profit associations, and limited liability partnerships (LLP). Almost 99.69 percent of companies were registered online. 159 foreign users were registered from overseas.
The information technology sector took the lead with the incorporation of 397 companies, followed by real estate development & construction with 385, trading with 339, services with 282, education with 121, tourism with 106, food & beverages with 96, e-commerce 74, marketing & advertisement with 72, textile with 62, corporate agricultural farming 51, engineering with 49, mining & quarrying with 48, healthcare with 44, pharmaceutical 39, power generation with 37, cosmetics and toiletries and chemical with 34 each, transport with 33, cables and electrical goods and broadcasting & telecasting with 26 each, communications with 25, fuel & energy with 24, paper & board with 20, auto & allied with 19, lodging with 18, arts and culture with 13 and 122 companies were registered in other sectors.
As a result of the integration of SECP with FBR and various provincial departments, 2,496 companies were registered with FBR for the generation of NTN, 71 companies with EOBI, 62 companies with PESSI/SESSI and 51 companies with the excise and taxation department.
Foreign investment has been reported in 89 new companies, having foreign investors from Afghanistan, China, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, Korea South, Malaysia, Maldives, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tajikistan, Turkey, UAE, UK, and US. A major chunk of investment was received from China with 47 companies, Nigeria with 5 companies, Germany and Philippines with 4 each, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and the US with 3 each, Afghanistan, Egypt, and South Korea with 2 each and from other countries in 11 companies.
The SECP has also a dedicated WhatsApp facility for instant resolution of queries about name availability and the incorporation process and during this month, around 1,254 queries were responded with a satisfaction rate of 95 percent.
