ISLAMABAD - The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has registered 415 new limited liability companies in December, raising the total corporate portfolio to 62,932 companies. Relative to the corresponding month of last year, 25pc growth has been witnessed in company registration.
In addition, the SECP granted licences to 5 non-profit associations. Around 91pc of companies registered as private limited companies, while around 6pc of them registered as single-member companies. About 1pc of the companies have been registered as public limited companies, as foreign companies and associations under Section 42 of the 1984 Companies Ordinance, each, during the month.
The services sector took the lead in new registrations with the incorporation of 49 companies, this month, followed by trading with 47, tourism with 39, construction and information and technology with 30 each, transport with 18, communications with 17 and corporate agricultural farming with 16 companies. The foreign investment has been witnessed in 16 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from Austria, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Netherlands, Panama and the UAE. These companies are from corporate agricultural farming, fuel and energy, information technology, mining and quarrying, power generation, services, sugar and allied, textile, trading and transport sectors.
The highest number of companies, i.e., 136, was registered at the Company Registration Office (CRO) in Lahore. It is followed by the CROs in Islamabad and Karachi, registering 109 and 102 companies respectively. The Multan and Peshawar CROs registered 28 and 23 companies respectively, while the CROs in Faisalabad, Quetta registered 12 and 5 companies respectively. During the month, the returns for increase in the authorised capital of 73 companies were accepted, with the total authorised capital increment of Rs 9.9 billion.  In addition, 89 companies filed returns for increase in the paid-up capital to the tune of Rs8.22 billion.