The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 2,434 new companies in September 2022. This shows an increase of 9% as compared to corresponding period last month. The total number of registered companies now stands at 178,733. Foreign investment has been reported in 55 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from Afghanistan, China, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Malaysia, Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Russia, Turkey, the UK, the UAE and the US, said a press release issued here. Total capitalization (paid-up-capital) with regard to newly incorporated companies for the current month stood at Rs 2.6 billion. In September, about 58 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, while 40 percent were registered as single member companies.

Two percent were registered as public unlisted companies, not for profit associations, foreign companies and limited liability partnership (LLP). About 99.88 percent companies were registered online, while 104 foreign users were registered from overseas. The real estate development & construction sector took the lead with incorporation of 480, information technology with 368, trading with 290, services with 245, education with 96, tourism with 95, e-commerce with 90, food beverages with 79, marketing advertisement with 58, textile and corporate agricultural farming with 54 each, engineering with 52, power generation with 50, pharmaceutical with 38, chemical with 36, healthcare with 33, and 316 companies were registered in other sectors. As a result of integration of SECP with FBR and various provincial departments, 2,254 companies were registered with FBR for generation of NTN, 74 companies with EOBI, 38 companies with PESSI/SESSI and 39 companies with excise and taxation department.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP