ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SEPC) has said that the total number of registered companies with the regulators has increased to 80,000.
It said that during the first eleven months of current fiscal year (2016-2017) it registered 7,688 new companies. As compared to the corresponding period last year, it represents a growth of 35 percent.
The massive increase in number of new companies is the direct result of various reforms measures introduced by the SECP, i.e. reduction of fee, introduction of swift incorporation process, assistance of incorporation by facilitation wings of CROs, elimination of purchase of third-party digital signatures and introduction of simple and hassle-free CNIC-based user ID and PIN system for incorporation and post incorporation activities.
The SECP in May 2017 registered the highest number of 926 new companies so far, witnessing an increase of 44 percent as compared to same month of preceding year.
Around 86 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, while around 11 percent companies were registered as single-member companies. Three percent of the companies were registered as public unlisted, association’s not-for-profit, trade organizations and foreign companies.
The service sector took the lead with the incorporation of 136 companies, trading with 129, construction with 114, IT with 89, tourism with 57, engineering with 30, food and beverages, health care, and real estate development with 27 each, communication with 24, education and fuel and energy with 20 each, transport with 17, corporate agricultural farming with 16, lodging, pharmaceutical, power generation and textile with 15 each, cable and electric goods with 14, auto allied with 13, and 106 companies were registered in other sectors. Moreover, 13 foreign companies were also registered by the CROs in Islamabad, Karachi and Faisalabad.
Foreign investment has been reported in 75 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, China, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, South Korea, Kuwait, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Singapore, Turkey, the UAE and the US. During the month, the highest numbers of companies, i.e. 338, were registered at the Islamabad CRO, followed by 268 and 165 companies registered at Lahore and Karachi CROs respectively. The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Quetta, Sukkur and Gilgit-Baltistan registered 46, 43, 33, 15, 5 and 13 companies respectively.
