ISLAMABAD - SECP registered 244 companies during September. The authorised capital and paid-up capital of these companies was Rs 3.74 billion and Rs 390 million respectively.During the month, applications/returns for increase in authorised capital for 185 companies were accepted, with the total authorised capital increment of Rs4.86 billion. Seventy-nine companies filed applications/returns for increase in paid-up capital with the total increment amounting to Rs 1.51 billion.The new incorporations included 218 private companies, followed by 14 single-member companies and 4 each as public unlisted companies, non-profit associations and foreign companies. The foreign companies belong to South Korea, Oman, China and Singapore.Foreign investment by nationals from Afghanistan, China, Iran, Peru, Romania, Spain, UK and US has been witnessed in 10 new local companies. These companies are from construction, food and beverages, fuel and energy, IT, trading and communication sectors.With 29 companies the services sector has the highest number of new incorporations, followed by trading with 28, tourism with 18, construction with 16, communications and I.T. with 12 each, and food and beverages sector with 11 companies.The Lahore Company Registration Office registered 85 companies, followed by Karachi and Islamabad CROs, registering 72 and 53 companies respectively. The Peshawar, Multan and Faisalabad CROs registered 15, 10 and 7 companies respectively, while Quetta and Sukkur CROs registered 1 company each.