ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 2,504 new companies in June 2021, indicating a growth of 63 percent as compared to corresponding period last year. The total number of registered companies increased to 145,913.

Ninety-nine per cent of these were incorporated online and 45 per cent applicants were issued registration certificates the same day, whereas, 203 new foreign users were registered from overseas.

Of the newly-registered companies, 65 percent were registered as private limited companies, 31 percent as single member companies and four percent as public unlisted companies, not for profit associations, foreign companies and limited liability partnership (LLP).

Total capitalisation (paid-up capital) of newly-incorporated companies for the current month is amounted to Rs3.3 billion.

The construction and real estate sector took the lead with the incorporation of 474, trading with 382, IT with 275, services with 216, e-commerce with 129, food and beverages with 105, textile with 86, corporate agricultural farming with 76, education with 66,engineering, and market and development 54 each, pharmaceutical with 50, healthcare with 45, tourism with 39, mining and quarrying, and transport with 36 each, chemical with 34, auto and allied with 33, cables and electric goods with 31,logging with 27, communication with 26, power generation with 24, paper and board, and cosmetics and toiletries with 19 each, steel and allied with 18, broadcasting and telecasting, and fuel and energy with 16 each, wood and wood products with 13, and 105 companies were registered in other sectors.

Foreign investment has been reported in 66 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia Republic, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, the UK, Uruguay, and the US.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021