SECP posts 20% growth in new companies’ registration

ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 2,223 new companies in September 2021, up 20 per cent over the same period in the preceding year, a statement said on Friday.

The total capitalisation (paid-up capital) of the new companies stood at Rs2.8 billion and the total number of registered companies has risen to 152,089, it added.

The private limited companies accounted for 65 per cent of the new incorporations, whereas 32 per cent were registered as a single-member entity. The remaining 3 per cent were registered as public unlisted companies, not for profit associations, trade organisations and limited liability partnership (LLP).

Approximately 99 per cent companies were registered online and 210 foreign users were registered from overseas.

The sector-wise, construction and real estate sector took the lead with the incorporation of 377 companies; followed by information technology, 316; trading, 310; services, 209; food and beverages sector, 85; textiles, 74; e-commerce, 74; education, 66; market and development, 54; corporate agricultural farming, 53; pharmaceutical, 52; engineering, 46; healthcare, 45; tourism, 43; auto and allied, 38; chemicals, 38; transport, 37; mining and quarrying, 3; and power generation, 30; paper and board, 27; logging, 26; cosmetics and toiletries, 23; fuel and energy, 19; cables and electric goods, 18; communications, 17; steel and allied, 16; wood products, 16; and broadcasting and telecasting, 15; while 69 companies were registered in other sectors.

Foreign investment has been reported in 61 new companies, reporting foreign investors from Australia, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Iraq, Jordan, South Korea, Paraguay, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, the UAE, the UK, the US and Zambia.