ISLAMABAD - The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 1,021 new companies in February this year, showing growth of 19 percent as against the corresponding months of the previous year. 

This has raised the total number of registered companies to 84,809. The massive increase in number of new companies is the direct result of various reforms measures introduced by the SECP, i.e. simplification of incorporation procedure, reduction of fee, assistance of incorporation by facilitation wings of CROs etc.

Around 81 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, while around 17 percent were registered as single-member companies. Two percent were registered as public unlisted, non-profit associations, trade organization and foreign companies.

The services sector took the lead with the incorporation of 162 companies, trading with 145, IT with 120, construction with 111, tourism with 47, food and beverages with 39, corporate agricultural farming with 38, education with 30, engineering and real estate development with 27 each, communication with 24, textile with 22, pharmaceutical with 17, mining and quarrying with 15, healthcare, cable and electric goods and fuel and energy with 14 each, auto and allied with 13, logging with 11 and 131 companies were registered in other sectors. Moreover, 3 foreign companies were also registered by the CROs in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

Foreign investment has been reported in 40 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from Argentina, China, Denmark, Germany, Jordan, Kenya, South Korea, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Sweden and the US.

During the month, the highest numbers of companies, i.e. 345 were registered at the Company Registration Office (CRO), Islamabad, followed by 303 and 195 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi respectively. The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Gilgit-Baltistan Faisalabad, Quetta, and Sukkur registered 53, 48, 38, 25, 12 and 2 companies respectively.