SECP registered 329 companies in January

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 329 companies in January. The authorized capital and paid-up capital of these companies is Rs5 billion and Rs573 million respectively.

The new incorporations include 304 private companies, 16 single-member companies, 5 public unlisted companies, 2 non-profit associations and 2 foreign companies. Of the 2 foreign companies, one each belongs to the Cayman Islands and the 

U.S. Foreign investment by nationals from Norway, Bangladesh and South Korea has been witnessed in 3 new local companies. These companies are from I.T., finance and banking and food and beverages sectors.

The trading sector has the largest share in the new incorporations with 47 companies, followed by tourism with 44 companies, services with 29, I.T. with 23, construction with 18, corporate agricultural farming with 14 and pharmaceutical with 13 companies.

The highest incorporation was witnessed at the Company Registration Office (CRO), Lahore, where 108 companies were registered. It is followed by the CROs in Karachi and Islamabad, registering 90 and 84 companies respectively. The Multan CRO registered 20 companies while CROs in Peshawar and Faisalabad registered 16 and 9 companies respectively. The Quetta and Sukkur CROs registered 1 company each.

During the month the returns for increase in the authorized capital of 114 companies were accepted, with the total authorized capital increment of Rs24.26 billion. In addition, 89 companies filed returns for increase in paid-up capital with the total enhancement amounting to Rs4.2 billion.

In addition, the SECP granted licenses to 11 non-profit associations under Section 42 of the 1984 Companies Ordinance, during the second quarter of FY-2012-13, raising the number of such licenses during the first half of the current financial year to 25. 

 Of the 11 licenses, 4 associations were granted licenses in the education sector, 2 for charity activities, while one each for services, dairy sector, rural development, social welfare and research and development.