ISLAMABAD: The SECP registered 470 companies during May as compared to 422 and 370 in April and March respectively.

The private companies have the highest share in new incorporations at 450, followed by 13 single-member companies, two public unlisted companies, three non-profit associations and two foreign companies.

Two foreign companies, belonging to Oman and South Korea, were registered in Karachi and Islamabad.

Foreign investment by nationals from the US, China and Panama has been witnessed in three local companies each registered in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi, in mining, trading and communications sectors respectively.

The Hajj and Umrah services sector has the highest new incorporations of 157 companies, followed by services 45 companies, trading 42, tourism 22, communications 20, IT 19, textile 15, construction 12 and pharmaceutical 10.

The Lahore Company Registration Office registered 149 companies while 116 were registered in Islamabad and 94 in Karachi. Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad and Sukkur offices registered 42, 41, 16, 10 and 2 companies, respectively.

Authorized capital and paid-up capital of 470 companies is Rs3.19 billion and Rs1.42 billion respectively.

During the month, 720 companies increased their authorized capital with the aggregate authorised capital increment of Rs4.76 billion and 179 companies raised their paid-up capital with the total paid-up capital increment amounting to Rs4.36 billion.