SECP registers 819 companies in March

ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 819 new companies during the month of March, witnessing an increase of 34 percent as compared to same month of preceding year, numbers released by the commission showed on Saturday. 

According to the stats in the statement, the commission registered 5,858 new companies during the first nine months of current fiscal year, representing a growth of 33 percent compared to the corresponding period last year. 

The corporate watchdog pointed out that a growing trend in company incorporation was the direct result of numerous facilitation measures undertaken by the commission. 

Around 86 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, while around 11 percent as single member companies, the statement said and added three percent were registered as public unlisted, associations (not-for-profit), and foreign companies. 

The data revealed the services sector took the lead with the incorporation of 106 companies, construction with 99, followed by trading with 92, IT with 84, tourism with 45, education with 32, textile with 28, transport with 27, food and beverages with 26, engineering with 23, corporate agricultural farming with 20  real estate development with 19, pharmaceutical and power generation with 18 each, cable and electric goods and communication with 17 each, auto and allied with 15, healthcare with 14, fuel and energy with 13, paper and board with 11, while 95 companies were registered in other sectors. Moreover, nine foreign companies were also registered by the CROs in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. 

Furthermore, foreign investment was reported in 52 new companies, which drew inflows from, Australia, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Lebanon, Singapore, Turkey, the UK, and the US. 

Also, during the month, the highest number of companies, i.e. 260, was registered at Islamabad Company Registration Office (CRO), followed by 258 and 177 registered in Lahore and Karachi respectively.

On the other hand, the CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Quetta, Sukkur and Gilgit-Baltistan registered 41, 33, 19, 13, 3 and 15 companies respectively.