ISLAMABAD, 14 MAY, (DNA) – The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) during the month of April registered 625 new companies, witnessing an increase of 22 percent as compared to the same month of the preceding year.

During the first ten months of current fiscal year, 4,984 new companies were registered. As compared to the corresponding period last year, it represents a growth of 21 percent. It is a clear sign of confidence by investors and of a growing trend in company registration. Around 92 percent of companies have been registered as private limited companies, while around 6 percent were registered as single member companies. Two percent of the companies were registered as public unlisted, non-profit associations, trade organizations and foreign companies.

Trading sector took the lead with the incorporation of 85 companies, followed by services sector with 75, information technology with 61, construction with 57, tourism with 40, broadcasting and telecasting with 37, communication with 22, corporate agricultural farming with 21, textile with 20, food and beverages with 19, engineering 16, fuel and energy with 15, pharmaceutical with 13,  real estate development and healthcare with 12 each, transport and chemical with 11 each, auto and allied with 10 and 88 companies were registered in other sectors. Moreover, 6 foreign companies were also registered by the CROs in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.

Foreign investment has been reported in 49 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from, Afghanistan, Bosnia Herzegovina, China, Germany, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UAE and the US. These companies are from auto and allied, cement, construction, services, engineering, food and beverages, fuel and energy, healthcare, trading, information technology, real estate development, communications, transport, power generation, corporate agricultural farming textile and miscellaneous sector.

During the month, the highest numbers of companies, i.e. 192, were registered at the Company Registration Office (CRO), in Islamabad, followed by 186 and 136 companies registered at the CROs in Lahore and Karachi respectively. The CROs in Faisalabad, Quetta Multan, Peshawar and Sukkur and registered 23, 9, 28, 43 and 8 companies respectively. =DNA