In October 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 2,361 new firms. This represents a 17 percent increase compared to the same period last month.
The current total number of registered firms is 180,996.
There has been reported foreign investment in 77 new firms. Foreign investors from Afghanistan, Austria, Australia, Bangladesh, China, Denmark, Iran, Italy, Jordan, South Korea, Lebanon, Lithuania, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Yemen, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States have invested in these enterprises.
The total capitalization (paid-up capital) of newly incorporated businesses for the current month was 3 billion rupees.
In October, around 60% of companies were registered as limited liability corporations, while 37% were incorporated as sole proprietorships. About three percent were public unlisted enterprises, non-profit organisations, overseas firms, and limited liability partnerships (LLP). Almost 99.8 percent of businesses had online registrations.
The real estate development and construction sector registered the most companies with 432, followed by information technology with 355, trading with 279, services with 234, food and beverages with 93, e-commerce with 92, tourism with 84, education with 83, corporate agricultural farming with 72, marketing and advertising with 56, engineering with 45, power generation with 44, and other sectors with 814 companies.
As a result of the integration of SECP with the Federal Board of Revenue and various provincial departments, 1,969 companies were registered with the FBR for the generation of national tax numbers, 81 companies were registered with the Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI), 47 companies were registered with the Punjab/Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (PESSI/SESSI), and 57 companies were registered with the excise and taxation department.