ISLAMABAD
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 26,502 new companies in FY 2021-22, which translates into 15.4 percent of total companies registered in the country. The total number of registered companies with SECP stands at 172,206.
Real estate development & construction sector led the number of new incorporations with 4,791 new companies registered, followed by information technology with 3,760 new companies and trading with 3,534 new companies.
As a result of end to end digitization of the company incorporation process, about 99.5 percent companies were registered online while 1,640 foreign users were registered from overseas. Total capitalization (paid-up-capital) with regard to newly incorporated companies for the current month stood at Rs42.4 billion.
SECP has made significant reforms to facilitate the registration of companies by fully digitizing 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.
SECP’s e-services have been integrated with Provincial Revenue Departments to facilitate registration of companies with Provincial Revenue Departments at the time of incorporation. Company tax number is also issued online.
In addition, an online portal has also been created for banks to facilitate companies in opening corporate accounts after registration.
SECP has launched a WhatsApp helpline as well to provide immediate assistance to the investors. All these measures led to notable improvements in ease of doing business, one result of which can be seen through steady increase in the number of new incorporations.
During fiscal year 2022, nearly 64 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, while 33 percent were registered as single member companies. Three percent were registered as public unlisted companies, not for profit associations, foreign companies and limited liability partnership (LLP).
