ISLAMABAD - The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 348 new limited liability companies in July. Relative to corresponding month last year, a growth of 10% was witnessed in company registrations. In addition, the SECP granted 3 new licenses to non-profit associations.
Around 92% companies registered as private limited companies, while 5% companies registered as single member companies. The remaining 3% of the companies have been registered as public limited companies, associations under Section 42 of the 1984 Companies Ordinance, trade organizations and foreign companies.
The services and trading sector took the lead in new registrations with the incorporation of 41 companies each, followed by information and technology with 29, tourism with 27, construction with 26, corporate agricultural farming with 15, food and beverages with 14, chemical with 13, textile with 12 and engineering with 11 companies.
Foreign investment has been witnessed in 20 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from China, Japan, New Zealand, Panama, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the UK. These companies are from trading, corporate agricultural farming, textile, tourism, chemical, communications, construction, food and beverages, fuel and energy, information technology, power generation, services and steel and allied sectors. During the month, the highest number of companies, i.e.120, was registered at the Company Registration Office (CRO), Lahore, followed by 92 and 82 companies registered at CROs Islamabad and Karachi respectively. The CROs in Peshawar and Multan registered 18 companies each, while the CRO in Faisalabad registered 14 companies. The Quetta CRO registered 4 companies.  Returns for an increase in the authorized capital of 82 companies were accepted, with the total authorized capital increment of Rs11.3 billion. In addition, 94 companies filed returns for increase in the paid-up capital with the total enhancement amounting to Rs12.9 billion.