ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 375 new limited liability companies in May, bringing the total corporate portfolio to 62,549 companies.
An impressive 12 percent growth in company registration has been witnessed, as compared to the preceding month, said an SECP statement here Tuesday.
The SECP continued its efforts to promote corporatization in the country, including conduct of various seminars with all stakeholders, awareness campaigns and facilitation extended including provision of fast track registration services.
Around 91 percent companies were registered as private limited companies and around 5 percent companies as single member ones. Around 2 percent companies were registered as public limited companies, 1 percent as associations under Section 42 of the 1984 Companies Ordinance and 1 percent as foreign companies, during the month.
Foreigners showed a significant interest in investing in Pakistan as evident from the formation of 19 new companies having foreign investment. These companies have foreign investors from Afghanistan, Canada, China, Germany, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the UAE, the UK and the United States.
These companies are from airlines, automobile parts, construction, consultancy services, electrical goods, food, IT, mining and quarrying, oil and gas exploration, power generation, software development, telecommunications, textile, trading and transport sectors.
Interest of foreign investors is also a reflection of the SECP's facilitative regime for foreign investors including, fast tracked provisional registration of companies having foreign directorship.
The services sector has again taken the lead in new registration with the incorporation of 50 new companies, this month, followed by trading with 46 companies, tourism with 38, I.T. with 36, corporate agricultural farming with 20, constructions with 18, textile with 14, communications with 13, pharmaceuticals with 12 and education with 11 companies.
The highest number of companies, i.e., 117, was registered at the Company Registration Office (CRO) in Lahore. It was followed by the CROs in Islamabad and Karachi, registering 114 and 87 companies respectively.
The Multan, Peshawar and Faisalabad CROs registered 27, 18 and 10 companies respectively, while the CROs in Quetta and Sukkur registered one company each.
During the month returns for increase in the authorized capital of 117 companies were accepted, with the total authorized capital increment of Rs 18.76 billion.
In addition, 108 companies filed returns for increase in the paid-up capital with the total increase amounting to Rs10.33 billion.
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