Company registrations with SECP up 21pc in May

ISLAMABAD: Companies’ registration with Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) grew 21 percent in May, compared to the same period of the last fiscal year, taking the total tally to 100,532, the corporate regulator said in a statement.

The SECP registered 1,323 new companies in May 2019, while the number of firms it registered in May 2018 was 1,094.

The SECP said this massive increase was the result of the commission’s various reforms measures, i.e. introduction of simplified combined process for name reservation and incorporation, one window facility for company incorporation along with national tax number generation, reduction in fee and assistance provided by facilitation wings at major company registration offices.

Around 73 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, while around 24 percent were registered as single-member companies.

Three percent were registered as public unlisted companies, nonprofit associations, foreign companies and limited liability partnerships, whereas around 55 percent of the companies were registered the same day.

The SECP said it had upgraded its browser’s compatibility and now in addition to Internet Explorer, other browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge, Safari, and Opera could be used for name reservation and company incorporation.

A breakup shows trading sector took the lead with the incorporation of 199 companies. It was followed by services with 162, IT with 153, construction with 136, tourism with 74, food and beverages with 59, corporate agricultural farming with 56, real estate development with 55, education with 41, marketing/advertisement, textile with 40 and engineering with 29.

Moreover, 23 newly registered companies belong to the pharmaceutical sector, 21 to transport, 19 each to logging and mining/quarrying, 18 to fuel and energy, 15 each to broadcasting, and healthcare, auto and allied, 13 to chemical, 12 cosmetics and toiletries, 11 each to communication and power generation, while 87 companies were registered in other sectors.

The regulator in its statement said foreign investment had been reported in 67 new companies.