islamabad : The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 482 new limited liability companies in May, raising the total corporate portfolio to 64,159 companies. Relative to corresponding month last year, a very healthy growth of 29pc was witnessed in company registrations. In addition, the SECP granted 3 licences to non-profit associations during the month. Around 92pc companies registered as private limited companies; while 4pc companies were registered as single member companies.  Two percent of the companies have been registered as public limited companies, while 1.5pc companies were registered as associations under Section 42 of the 1984 Companies Ordinance.
The trading sector took the lead in new registrations with the incorporation of 55 companies,  followed by services with 53, information and technology with 47, tourism with 32, construction with 26, corporate agricultural farming with 25, food and beverages and textile with 17 each, communications, education and power generation with 16, pharmaceutical with 15 and engineering with 13 companies each.
Foreign investment has been witnessed in 23 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands Antilles, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US. These companies are from trading, information technology, mining and quarrying, power generation, services, textile, communications, corporate agricultural farming, engineering, fuel and energy and transport sectors.
During the month, 192 companies were registered at the Company Registration Office (CRO), Lahore, followed by 107 and 102 companies registered at CRO Karachi and Islamabad respectively. The CROs in Multan, Peshawar and Faisalabad registered 34, 21 and 15 companies respectively. The Quetta CRO registered 9, while the Sukkur CRO registered 2 companies.
In the month of May, returns for an increase in the authorised capital of 98 companies were accepted, with the total authorized capital increment of Rs11.05 billion. In addition, 88 companies filed returns for increase in the paid-up capital with a total enhancement of Rs9.77 billion.