ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 1,691 new companies in July with a total paid-up capital of Rs2.5bn.

After these incorporations addition, the total number of registered companies has reached 173,897.

In July, foreign investment had been reported in 44 new companies from Afghan­istan, China, Domi­nican Republic, Egypt, Germany, Kazakhstan Madag­ascar, the Nether­lands, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, the UK and the US.

About 59pc companies were registered as private limited companies, while 38pc were registered as single member companies.

Three percent were registered as public unlisted companies, not-for-profit associations, foreign companies and limited liability partnership (LLP).

Moreover, about 99.8pc companies were registered online, while 144 foreign users were registered from overseas.

The real estate development and construction sector took the lead with incorporation of 312, information technology with 245, trading with 208, services with 170 and e-commerce with 66, education with 65, tourism with 60.

As a result of integration of SECP with FBR and various provincial departments, 1,625 companies were registered with FBR for generation of NTN, 45 companies with EOBI, 47 companies with PESSI/SESSI and 36 companies with excise and taxation department.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2022