The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 27,746 new companies in the financial year 2022-23, with an increase of around 5 percent as compared to the previous fiscal year, a statement said on Thursday.
The total number of registered companies now stands at 196,805.
“As a result of end to end digitisation of the company incorporation process, about 99.8 percent companies were registered online while 1,256 foreign users were registered from overseas,” SECP said.
Total capitalisation (paid-up-capital) with regard to newly incorporated companies for the FY23 stood at Rs36.6 billion.
Real estate development and construction sector led the number of new incorporations with 4,527 new companies registered, followed by information technology with 4,038 and trading with 3,539 new companies.
SECP data shows services sector with 2,928 new incorporations, food and beverages with 1,106, tourism with 1,101, education with 1,048, ecommerce with 910, corporate agricultural farming with 732, marketing and advertisement with 672, textile with 634, engineering with 591, pharmaceutical with 468, mining and quarrying with 462, healthcare with 451, power generation with 447, transport with 423, chemical with 402, cosmetics and toiletries with 274, fuel and energy with 272, auto and allied with 271, communications with 268, lodging with 266, broadcasting and telecasting with 208, paper and board, and cables and
electrical goods with 192 each, and 1,324 companies were registered in other sectors.
According to SECP, it has made significant reforms to facilitate the registration of companies by fully digitising the registration process, along with company registration certificate.
“With this automation, companies can now be registered online from any part of the world, without needing to visit SECP offices,” it said.
SECP’s e-services have also been integrated with provincial revenue departments to facilitate registration of companies with the departments at the time of incorporation. Company tax number is also issued online, according to the commission.
As a result of integration of SECP with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and various provincial departments, 26,125 companies were registered with the FBR for registration of NTN, 819 companies with EOBI, 317 companies with PESSI/SESSI and 569 companies with excise and taxation department.
SECP said it has created an online portal for banks to facilitate companies in opening corporate accounts after registration.
The commission also has a dedicated WhatsApp facility for instant resolution of the queries pertaining to name availability and incorporation process.
During FY2023, around 14,973 queries were responded with 96 percent satisfaction rate, according to SECP.
During fiscal year 2023, nearly 58 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, while 39 percent were registered as single member companies.
Three percent were registered as public unlisted companies, not for profit associations, Trade organisations, foreign companies, and limited liability partnership.
Foreign investment was reported in 841 new companies. Major chunk of investment was received from China with 448 companies, the US with 46, the UK with 36, Afghanistan with 35, Germany with 32, Turkey and South Korea with 16 each, UAE with 15, Singapore with 11, Nigeria with 10, and 176 companies from other countries, SECP stated.
