The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 1,187 new companies in August 2019, out of which 94 percent of the companies were registered online through eServices while 52 percent companies got registered in one day.
The new registrations in August have raised the number of total companies to 104,030.
According to the SECP, the increasing trend in the registration of new companies is due to simplified and hassle-free procedures of company incorporation.
The new companies that were registered in August 2019, include 71% private limited companies, 26% single-member companies and 3% public unlisted companies, not for profit associations, trade organizations, foreign companies and Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).
Sector-Wise Registration
The trading sector took the lead with 192 companies followed by services with 148, construction with 132 and IT with 120.
As many as 595 companies were registered in the following sectors:
- tourism
- real estate development
- education
- food and beverages
- engineering
- corporate agricultural farming
- marketing & development
- chemical
- mining and quarrying
- textile
- pharmaceutical
- transport
- fuel and energy
- healthcare
- auto and allied
- communication
- logging
- power generation
Foreign Investment
Foreign investment has been reported in 38 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from:
- China
- Denmark
- Ireland
- Italy
- Korea
- South
- Mauritius
- Norway
- Saudi Arabia
- Switzerland
- UK
- US
City-Wise Registration
The highest numbers of companies, i.e. 434 were registered in Islamabad, followed by 316 and 189 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi respectively.
The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Faisalabad, Quetta, and Sukkur registered 81, 56, 47, 45, 13 and 6 companies respectively.
Reforms Taken by SECP
The SECP has recently undertaken a series of reforms for providing ease of business registration. Following the reforms, a company can now be registered with SECP within four hours through eService.
The SECP has recently combined the process for name reservation and incorporation to introduce a single application form for company incorporation. Moreover, the company incorporation and other regulatory fee has been reduced significantly along with the facility provided for payment of fee through mobile and internet banking.
To facilitate and guide people, the SECP has also established facilitation desks at company registration offices of Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.
The most significant development is the integration of SECP’s eServices with Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Employees Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) and business registration portals of Punjab and Sindh.
Resultantly, SECP eServices is offering a one-window facility for company incorporation, NTN registration and registration with EOBI, provincial social security institutions (PESSI/SESSI), excise and taxation department and labor department of Punjab and Sindh.
