ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has reported a significant increase in company registrations, bringing the total to 137,054 by the end of February 2021, according to a recent statement.
This growth is attributed to a series of reforms implemented by the SECP to facilitate ease of doing business, resulting in a 39 percent rise in company registrations in February compared to the same month last year. The Company Registrar of the SECP successfully incorporated 2,257 new companies and startups during the month, with approximately 99 percent of these incorporations completed online. Impressively, 30 percent of applicants received their registration certificates on the same day, and 175 new foreign users were also registered from overseas.
The SECP highlighted that this notable growth is due to several measures aimed at simplifying the registration process. These include the introduction of a combined process for name reservation and incorporation, a reduction in fees, the availability of online payment facilities, the issuance of digital registration certificates, and the establishment of a Business Centre to assist with the incorporation process.
Of the newly company registration, 68 percent were private limited companies, 30 percent were single-member companies, and the remaining two percent comprised public unlisted companies, non-profit associations, foreign companies, and limited liability partnerships (LLPs), the SECP said.
Foreign investment was reported in 52 of the new companies, with investors hailing from a diverse range of countries, including Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong, South Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Norway, Oman, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, the UAE, the UK, Ukraine, and the United States, according to the SECP.
The trading sector led the new company registrations with 354 companies, followed by the IT sector with 272 companies, construction with 220, services with 216, real estate development with 163, corporate agricultural farming with 99, e-commerce with 92, food and beverages with 81, education with 65, textile with 60, healthcare with 56, engineering with 47, market & development and pharmaceutical with 43 each, chemicals with 39, tourism with 36, transport with 35, auto & allied with 32, cosmetics & toiletries and mining & quarrying with 29 each, cables & electric goods with 27, fuel & energy with 23, broadcasting & telecasting with 22, communications with 20, logging with 19, paper & board with 16, steel & allied with 14, power generation with 13, wood & wood products with 11, and 81 companies were registered in other sectors.
The SECP said geographically, the highest company registration, 765, were registered in Islamabad, followed by 634 in Lahore and 361 in Karachi. The Company Registration Offices (CROs) in Multan, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Quetta, and Sukkur registered 161, 153, 79, 63, 32, and nine companies, respectively.
The SECP concluded that these measures and the resulting growth demonstrate the success of its initiatives to streamline the business registration process and attract both local and foreign investments into Pakistan’s economy.
