The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in a game-changing development has announced that ease of doing business has led to the registration of 2,257 new startups translating to corporate growth of 39 percent in February.
On Tuesday, SECP announced that the corporate registrar has incorporated 2,257 new startups and companies in February. According to the press release, 99 percent of the companies were incorporated online whereas, 30 percent of applicants had their registration certificates the same day. 175 foreign users also registered from overseas.
SECP Pakistan tweeted in this regard, “Reforms for ease of doing business led to 39% corporate growth in February. SECP registered 2,257 new companies in Feb. 99% of these were incorporated online; 30% applicants were issued registration certificates same day, while 175 foreign users were registered from overseas.”
Read More: SBP mulls relaxing FE regulations for startups to raise convertible debts
68 percent of newly registered companies were private limited, whereas 30 percent as single-member companies and 2 percent are public unlisted companies.
Moreover, foreign investment in February was reported in 52 new companies. These companies received investment from, Germany, Syria, Tanzania, Kuwait, Lebanon, Norway, Turkey, the UAE, Hong Kong, Korea South, Canada, China, Singapore, Spain, Oman, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Egypt, US, and Ukraine.
Among new registrations, the trading sector took the lead with the incorporation of 354 companies, followed by IT with 272, construction with 220, services with 216, real estate development with 163, corporate agricultural farming with 99, e-commerce with 92, food & beverages with 81, education with 65, textile with 60, healthcare with 56, engineering with 47.
Read More: Pakistan launches first national investment platform for startups
Furthermore, market & development and pharmaceutical with 43 each, a chemical with 39, tourism with 36, transport with 35, auto & allied with 32, cosmetics & toiletries, and mining & quarrying with 29 each, cables & electric goods with 27, fuel & energy with 23, broadcasting & telecasting with 22, communications with 20, logging with 19, paper & board with 16, steel & allied with 14, power generation with 13 and wood & wooden products with 11. As many as 81 companies were registered in other sectors.
Islamabad took the lead in registering the highest number of companies i.e. 765. Meanwhile, 634 and 361 companies in Lahore and Karachi. CROs in Multan, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Quetta, and Sukkur registered 161, 153, 79, 63, 32, and 09 companies, respectively.
