ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 604 new companies during March 2016 bringing the number of firms enrolled during the first three quarters of this fiscal year to 4,355, a growth of 21 per cent over the same period last year.

Around 91pc of these were registered as private limited companies, 6pc as singlemember and 3pc as public unlisted, non-profit associations and foreign companies during the July-March period of 2015-16.

These companies, from auto and allied, chemical, construction, services, engineering, health care, trading, information technology, power generation, lodging, steel and allied, textile, and miscellaneous sec-tor, have foreign investors from China, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Turkey, Czech Republic, Syria, South Africa, Germany, Afghanistan, Singapore, Denmark and other countries.

Moreover, 5 foreign companies were also registered by the CROs in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. Foreign investment has been reported in 38 new companies.

The highest number of 204 companies was registered at the Company Registration Office (CRO) in Islamabad during March followed by 165 and 139 at in Lahore and Karachi.

The CROs in Faisalabad, QuettaMultan, Peshawar and Sukkur registered 12, 7, 39, 35 and 3 companies respectively.-Reporter