ISLAMABAD: Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) during the April registered 512 new companies, witnessing an increase of 10 percent as compared to same period of last year.
About 90 percent of them have been registered as private limited companies, while around 7 percent have been registered as single-member companies, says a press statement here Friday.
Three percent were registered as public unlisted, non-profit associations’ and foreign companies, the statement added.
The trading sector took the lead with the incorporation of 61 companies, followed by information technology with 53, services with 45, tourism with 38, construction with 31, corporate agricultural farming with 28, fuel and energy with 24, power generation with 20, communications and education with 19 each, food and beverages with 15, textile with 14, pharmaceutical with 11, chemical and real estate development with 10 each companies. Moreover, 6 foreign companies were also registered by CROs in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
Foreign investment has been reported in 15 new companies. These companies have investors from Afghanistan, Australia, Belarus, China, Italy, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Oman, Palestine, the UK and the US.
These companies are from oil and gas exploration, broadcasting and telecasting, import/export, trading, garments, seed processing, healthcare, information technology, hajj and umrah services and construction sectors.
During April, the highest numbers of companies, i.e. 173, were registered at the Company Registration Office (CRO), Lahore, followed by 131 and 130 companies registered at CRO Islamabad and Karachi respectively.
The CROs in Multan, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Quetta and Sukkur registered 35, 24, 15, 3 and 1 companies respectively. Returns for an increase in the authorized capital of 121 companies were filed, with the total authorized capital increment of Rs79.1 billion. In addition, 94 companies filed returns for increase in the paid-up capital with the total increment amounting to Rs11.5 billion.
