SECP registers 2,504 new companies in June 2021

ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Friday said it had registered 2,504 new companies in June 2021, showing a growth of 63 percent as compared to the corresponding period last year.

The total number of registered companies increased to 145,913.

Ninety-nine percent of these were incorporated online and 45 percent applicants were issued registration certificates the same day, whereas 203 new foreign users were registered from overseas.

Of the newly registered companies, 65 percent were registered as private limited companies, 31 percent as single member companies and four percent as public unlisted companies, not for profit associations, foreign companies and limited liability partnership (LLP). Total capitalisation (paid-up-capital) of newly incorporated companies for the current month amounted to Rs3.3 billion.

The construction and real estate sector took the lead with the incorporation of 474 companies.

It was followed by the trading sector, which registered 382 companies; IT sector incorporated 275 companies, services 216, ecommerce 129, and food and beverages 105.

Less than 100 companies were registered by the following: textile 86, corporate agricultural farming 76, education 66; engineering, and market and development 54 each, and pharmaceutical sector 50 companies.

Sectors that registered less than 50 companies were: healthcare 45, tourism 39; mining and quarrying, and transport 36 each, chemical 34, auto and allied 33, cables and electric goods 31, logging 27, communication 26, power generation 24, paper and board, and cosmetics and toiletries 19 each, steel and allied 18, broadcasting and telecasting, and fuel and energy 16 each, and wood and wood products that incorporated 13 companies. Around 105 companies were registered in other sectors.

Foreign investment has been reported in 66 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia Republic, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, the UK, Uruguay and the US.

The highest numbers of companies, ie 810 were registered in Islamabad, followed by 807 and 394 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi, respectively. The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Quetta and Sukkur registered 174, 127, 98, 62, 22, and 10 companies respectively.