ISLAMABAD, November 4: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 2,107 new companies in October 2020, witnessing an increase of 26 % as compared to the corresponding period last year. Around 99% companies were registered online and 34% of applicants got registration the same day. In October, 97 foreign users registered companies from overseas.
Around 69% companies were registered as private limited companies, while around 28% were registered as single member companies and remaining 3% were public unlisted, not for profit associations, foreign companies and limited liability partnerships.
The trading sector took the lead with the incorporation of 341 companies, construction with 245, I.T with 231, services with 182, real estate development with 137, food and beverages with 110, tourism with 86, ecommerce with 78, corporate agricultural farming, market & development and pharmaceutical with 59 each, textile with 51, engineering with 48, education with 47, healthcare with 35, transport with 31, mining & quarrying with 26, auto & allied, and chemical with 25 each, fuel & energy with 22, logging with 21, power generation with 20, steel & allied with 19, paper & board with 16, communications, and cosmetics & toiletries with 15 each, broadcasting & telecasting, and cables & electric goods with 14 each and 76 companies.
Foreign investment has been reported in 35 new companies from Algeria, Belgium, China, Denmark, Germany, Korea South, Mexico, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the UAE, the UK and the United States.
The highest numbers of companies, i.e. 714 were registered in Islamabad, followed by 611 and 318 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi respectively. The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Quetta and Sukkur registered 171, 125, 67, 53, 37 and 11 companies respectively.