SECP records 8% growth in new registrations

Registers 383 new limited liability companies in March.

ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 383 new limited liability companies in March, bringing the total corporate portfolio to 61,887 companies, a press statement said on Monday. About 8% growth was witnessed month-on-month in corporate registration.

During the month, around 93% of the companies registered as private limited companies, while about 6% companies registered as single-member companies. Due to the SECP’s facilitation regime for foreign investors, including fast-track provisional registration of companies having foreign directorship, considerable foreign investment has been witnessed by nationals from Germany, Panama, China, the UK, the Netherlands, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Italy and Japan in 12 new local companies, the statement said.

These companies are from the communications, engineering, mining and quarrying, trading, construction, services and automobile parts sectors.

The tourism sector has taken the lead in new registrations, with the incorporation of 54 new companies in March, followed by the trading sector with 52 companies, services with 44, IT with 28, corporate agricultural farming with 20, broadcasting and telecasting with 17, communications with 16, construction with 13, and food and beverages, and transport with 11 companies each.

Historically, most companies are usually registered in Lahore or Karachi. However, 115 companies were registered in March at the Company Registration Office (CRO) in Islamabad. That was followed by the CROs in Lahore and Karachi, registering 105 and 101 companies, respectively. The Peshawar and Multan CROs registered 23 companies each, while the CROs in Faisalabad and Quetta registered 10 and 5 companies respectively. The Sukkur CRO registered one company.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2013.

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