Foreign investment has been made in 389 new companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) during 2015-16 and 54 foreign companies from Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, South Korea, the Netherlands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, UAE, UK and US have established places of business in Pakistan.
The SECP's annual report-2016 revealed that foreign investment has been reported in 389 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Myanmar, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, the Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the UAE, the UK and the US. Moreover, 54 foreign companies from Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, South Korea, the Netherlands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, the UAE, the UK and the US have established places of business in Pakistan during the last fiscal year. These companies are engaged in the fields of cable and electric goods, communication, construction, engineering, services, power generation, trading, fuel and energy, information technology, steel and allied and other sectors.
Data of companies registered with the SECP during 2015-16 revealed that the trading sector took a lead with the incorporation of 777 companies, followed by services with 770, information technology with 586, construction with 517, tourism with 433, food and beverages with 199, power generation with 192, communications with 188, corporate agricultural farming with 181, fuel and energy with 173, education with 166, real estate development with 165, broadcasting and telecasting with 162, textile with 148, pharmaceutical and engineering with 145 each, transport with 134, healthcare with 110 and 1009 companies in other sectors. Foreign investment has been reported in 389.
During the year, 6,200 new companies were registered. As compared with the corresponding period of last financial year, a growth of 24 percent has been witnessed. This has raised the total number of registered companies to 73,207. The trend witnessed in formation of companies was that approximately 90 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, 7 percent were registered as single-member companies. Three percent were registered as public unlisted, non-profit associations, under section 43, trade organisations and foreign companies, SECP added.