PIAF hails reforms to make doing business easier

F.P. Report

LAHORE: The Pakistan Industrial & Traders Associations Front (PIAF) chairman Irfan Iqbal Sheikh has appreciated the government for introducing reforms to make doing business easier in the context of annual ranking of countries by ease of doing business.

In a joint statement PIAF chairman Irfan Iqbal Sheikh along with senior vice chairman Tanveer Sufi and vice chairman Shahzeb Akram said that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Board of Investment (BoI) have introduced several reforms regarding ease of starting a business, which are right steps in the right direction.

The time to register a company has also been reduced to four hours in one-go where requirements are now only submission of name availability with three options and incorporation application with model memorandum of association and articles of association.

The SECP has further reduced fee involved in company registration due to merger of several statutory forms into a single form. The current name reservation and company registration fee for single member company with a paid up capital up to Rs 100,000 is Rs 1,550 under online mode and Rs 3,000 under offline mode. Previously it was Rs 2,300 under online mode and Rs 4,500 under offline mode. Both reforms have their legal backup to insure the protection that an incumbent business requires.

Considering the world’s best practices for company registration, the single online procedure has been sought through reforms. The SECP in this regard has combined procedure for company name reservation and company incorporation.

This helps the new start-ups register companies in a single step through e-Services rendered by SECP. The much needed legal back-up was already in place and now implemented through SRO 704 (I)/2017.

It is to be noted that the World Bank ‘Doing Business 2018’ report has also noted that Pakistan implemented some business reforms in 2017, making it easier to register a new business, transfer commercial property and facilitate cross-border trade.