ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 2,365 new companies in September, indicating an increase of 69 per cent as compared to corresponding period last year.

Out of these newly registered, 68pc companies were registered as private limited companies, 29pc were registered as single member companies and 3pc were registered as public unlisted companies, not for profit associations, under section 43 and limited liability partnership (LLP). This month 99pc companies registered online in September 2020, while 40pc of the companies were registered same day.

The trading sector took the lead with incorporation of 414 companies, followed by construction with 294 companies.

A total 289 companies were registered in IT sector, 226 in services, 139 in the real estate, 87 companies in food and beverages, 73 in corporate agricultural farming, 70 in e-commerce and 69 companies registered in tourism sector. In the education sector companies were registered, followed by 61 in engineering, 59 in pharmaceutical, 46 in textile, 42 in transport, 38 in marketing and advertisement, 37 in chemical, 28 in logging, 35 in mining & quarrying, 33 in healthcare, 26 companies in each power generation, cables & electric goods, 24 each in fuel & energy, 21 in communications, 19 each in auto & allied and paper/board, 17 each in broadcasting & telecasting, and cosmetics & toiletries, 14 in steel and allied and 73 companies were registered in other sectors.

During September, foreign investment has been reported in 43 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from, Australia, China, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Iran, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and Yemen.

The highest numbers of companies, i.e. 812 were registered in Islamabad, followed by 764 and 348 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi respectively.

SECP’s Company Registration Offices in Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Quetta and Sukkur registered 183, 97, 64, 62, 33 and 2 companies, respectively.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2020