ISLAMABAD, March 9:  A host of reforms by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for ease of doing business have led to 39 percent corporate growth in February compared to the same month last year.

The Corporate Registrar has incorporated 2,257 new companies and startups in February. 99 percent of these were incorporated online and 30 % applicants were issued registration certificates the same day, while 175 new foreign users were also registered from overseas. The total number of registered companies has raised to 137,054.

This sizeable growth is a result of the SECP’s various measures, i.e. introduction of simplified combined process for name reservation and incorporation, reduction of fee, facility of online payments, issuance of digital certificate of registration and assistance provided for incorporation by the newly established Business Centre.

Of the newly registered, 68 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, 30 percent as single member companies and two percent as public unlisted companies and not for profit associations, foreign companies and limited liability partnership (LLP).

In February, foreign investment was reported in 52 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong, Korea South, Kuwait, Lebanon, Norway, Oman, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, the UAE, the UK, Ukraine and the United States.

Amongst new registrations, trading sector took the lead with the incorporation of 354, I.T with 272, construction with 220, services with 216, real estate development with 163, corporate agricultural farming with 99, ecommerce with 92, food and beverages with 81, education with 65, textile with 60, healthcare with 56,  engineering with 47, market & development, and pharmaceutical with 43 each, chemical with 39, tourism with 36, transport with 35, auto & allied with 32, cosmetics & toiletries, and mining & quarrying with 29 each, cables & electric goods with 27, fuel & energy with 23, broadcasting & telecasting with 22, communications with 20, logging with 19, paper & board with 16, steel & allied with 14, power generation with 13, wood & wood products with 11, and 81 companies were registered in other sectors.

The highest numbers of companies, i.e. 765 were registered in Islamabad, followed by 634 and 361 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi respectively. The CROs in Multan, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Quetta and Sukkur registered 161, 153, 79, 63, 32 and 09 companies respectively.