ISLAMABAD: A total of 5,241 new companies registered in the country in September, with the IT sector topping the list, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) said on Friday, adding that almost all companies completed the process online.

Pakistan has sought to increase commercial and economic activity recently by enabling companies to register online. The South Asian country hopes to increase trading and economic activity, create more jobs, investment and achieve a higher tax base by inducing local and foreign investors to participate more in the economy.

The SECP said 5,241 new companies were registered in September, bringing the total number of registered companies in the country to 317,002. It said some 99.9 percent of registrations were completed online.

“The IT sector topped registrations with 920 companies, followed by trading with 808, services with 599, construction with 339, food with 239, tourism with 222 and real estate with 193,” the SECP said.

It added that the new registrations included 3,013 private limited companies, 2,058 single-member companies, 127 limited liability partnerships (LLPs), 29 not-for-profit companies, 10 public companies, two trade organizations and two foreign companies.

Giving a province-wise breakdown of the registrations, the SECP said Punjab led with 2,740 new company registrations, followed by Islamabad with 1,009, Sindh with 790, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 428, Gilgit-Baltistan with 169 and Balochistan with 105.

It said that 189 companies were registered in education, 179 in e-commerce, 127 in mining, and 1,426 across all other sectors.

“A total of 167 foreign investors participated in company registrations in September, with China leading the way with 113 investors,” the regulator said.

SECP Chairman Dr. Kabir Ahmed Sidhi described company registration as an important step toward building a structured economy.

“We are further simplifying the registration process to promote economic growth,” Sidhu said.

Islamabad has said it seeks an ambitious $30 billion annual export target for the IT sector. Pakistani officials have said that Islamabad wants to increase IT and IT-enabled services exports through investment in startups, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, digital skills training and improved connectivity.

The rapid expansion of Pakistan’s technology sector, which has become the country’s largest services exporter and a key source of foreign exchange in recent years, reflects the country’s efforts to diversify exports beyond traditional industries such as textiles and food.