Company Registration in Pakistan

Are you ready to register your business? We guide you through the process of registering your company in Pakistan. Our corporate team helps you with SECP regulations and requirements.

Streamlined Process: We simplify the company registration process, making it hassle-free and efficient.

Expert Guidance: Our knowledgeable consultants provide personalized support at every step.

Time-Saving: Skip the long queues and paperwork – we handle the details while you focus on your business.

1. Private Limited Company Registration

Establish your private limited (LTD) company with our comprehensive registration services. We'll assist you in preparing and filing all necessary documents, including the Articles and Memorandum of Association.

2. Online Company Registration

Save time and register your company online with our efficient e-filing services. Our experts will guide you through the digital process, ensuring accuracy and compliance.

3. Consultancy and Support

Have questions about company registration in Pakistan? Our experienced consultants are always ready to provide guidance and support tailored to your specific needs.

Take the first step towards making your business official. Contact us now to discuss your company registration requirements and let our experts handle the rest.

Contact us to discuss your company registration.

A company setup should reflect the proposed activity, founders, ownership, management and funding plan. The appropriate documents and regulatory steps should be checked against the current requirements for the chosen structure.

Information to organize before registration

• Proposed business activities and preferred company name.
• Founder, shareholder and management details.
• Ownership percentages and any foreign-investment element.
• Registered-office, governance and initial contract requirements.

Review related corporate and commercial support through our Pakistan legal services.

Tax and compliance questions should be coordinated with the appropriate legal and accounting advisers. Tax services and compliance

Companies in Pakistan are registered by the registrar of companies at the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), under the Companies Act 2017. The main steps are set out below. Section numbers refer to that Act as amended.

1. Register on SECP’s eZfile portal. SECP takes company registrations online through eZfile, the portal that is replacing its older eServices system. Each subscriber and proposed director needs their own eZfile user account, because each of them signs the application with the PIN issued when the account is created.
2. Choose the type of company. One person can form a single member company, two or more persons a private company, and three or more persons a public company (section 14(1)). A company can be limited by shares, limited by guarantee or unlimited (section 14(2)). The table further down compares the main types.
3. Check and reserve the name. The registrar will not register a name that is identical with or similar to the name of an existing company, or one that is inappropriate, undesirable or deceptive (section 10(1)). Some words, such as those suggesting a connection with a government, need SECP’s prior written approval (section 10(2)). A name can be reserved for up to sixty days (section 10(4)). If the registrar refuses a name, an appeal can be made to SECP within thirty days (section 10(6)).
4. Prepare the memorandum and articles. Every subscriber signs the memorandum of association, and the signatures are witnessed and dated. Articles of association may be filed for a company limited by shares, and must be filed for a company limited by guarantee or an unlimited company (section 16(1)(b) and (c)).
5. File the incorporation application and pay the fee. The application is made to the registrar on SECP’s specified form. It includes a declaration of compliance by an authorised intermediary or a proposed director, the memorandum (and the articles, where filed) and an address for correspondence (section 16(1)). SECP accepts these applications online through eZfile. The registration fee is set by the Seventh Schedule to the Act, as SECP directs from time to time (section 469). For a company with a share capital, it depends on the nominal share capital. The updated Seventh Schedule is published on SECP’s website. The current figures are in the fee table below.
6. Receive the certificate of incorporation. If a document is incomplete or defective, the registrar can ask for it to be corrected, and can refuse registration if it is not (section 16(2) and (3)). Once satisfied, the registrar registers the documents and issues a certificate of incorporation (section 16(4) and (5)). The certificate states the company’s name, registration number, date of incorporation and status (section 16(6)), and it is conclusive evidence that the company is duly registered (section 16(8)). A refusal can be appealed to SECP within thirty days (section 16(9)).

Documents and Information Needed to Incorporate

• The proposed name, which can be reserved in advance (section 10(4)).
• The memorandum of association, signed by every subscriber, witnessed and dated, and the articles of association where they are filed (section 16(1)(b) and (c)).
• A copy of the CNIC (or NICOP) of each subscriber, proposed director and the chief executive, or a passport for a foreign national.
• The particulars of each proposed director and of the first chief executive. The first chief executive is named by the subscribers, and those particulars are filed with the incorporation documents (section 186(2)).
• For a single member company, the details of the nominee who would deal with the shares if the sole member dies (section 14(1)(c)).
• An address for correspondence until the registered office is set up. The registered office itself is notified to the registrar within thirty days of incorporation (sections 16(1)(d) and 21(1)).
• The declaration of compliance by an authorised intermediary or a proposed director (section 16(1)(a)).

SECP Fees

These are SECP’s official fees from the Seventh Schedule to the Companies Act 2017, checked on 13 October 2026. They are official fees, not the firm’s fees.

Source: SECP, Seventh Schedule to the Companies Act 2017, updated till 20 April 2026. The name reservation and registration fees were set by S.R.O. 1806(I)/2024. Under S.R.O. 500(I)/2023 the registration fees rise by 10% a year; the latest increase took effect on 20 April 2026.

How Long It Takes: the Time Limits in the Act

These are the time limits the Companies Act 2017 sets around incorporation.

How long SECP takes to approve the name and incorporate the company depends on the case, and on whether the registrar asks for corrections.

Company Types at a Glance

Only a natural person can be a director (section 154(2)).

A private company’s articles must restrict the transfer of its shares, limit its members to fifty (not counting employees) and prohibit any invitation to the public to subscribe for its shares or debentures (section 2(1)(49)).

A single member company has only one member (section 2(1)(65)). When it is formed, the subscriber nominates a person who, if the sole member dies, will transfer the shares to the legal heirs and manage the company as a trustee until the transfer is made (section 14(1)(c)).

A public company is any company that is not a private company (section 2(1)(52)). It may not start operations or exercise borrowing powers until the conditions in section 19 are met, including a verified declaration filed with the registrar.

An association formed to promote commerce, art, science, education, health, social welfare, charity or another useful object, which will apply its income to those objects and pay no dividends to its members, needs a licence from SECP. It is then registered as a public limited company without the word “Limited” in its name (section 42(1) and (6)).

A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a different structure. It is registered with SECP under its own law, the Limited Liability Partnership Act 2017, rather than under the Companies Act.

A company incorporated outside Pakistan that establishes a place of business in Pakistan must, within thirty days, deliver to the registrar its constitutional documents, a list of its directors and officers, and the details of its principal officer in Pakistan and of a person resident in Pakistan authorised to accept service on its behalf (section 435(1)). Other approvals can apply depending on the activity, so confirm them for the specific case.

To open a branch office or a liaison office, a foreign company first needs the permission of the Board of Investment (BOI), which BOI grants for one to five years; it then makes the section 435 filing within thirty days of establishing the office. Our guide to branch and liaison office registration in Pakistan covers that route. Where a subscriber or director of a new Pakistani company is a foreign national, further SECP requirements may apply; we confirm them for each matter.

From the date of incorporation, the subscribers and later members become a body corporate under the name in the certificate. The company can exercise all the functions of an incorporated company and has perpetual succession (section 18(a) and (b)). The subscribers become the holders of the initial shares, and the persons named in the articles as proposed directors are treated as appointed (section 18(d) and (e)). Once registered, the memorandum and articles bind the company and its members (section 17(1)).

An association or partnership of more than twenty persons that carries on business for gain must be registered as a company (section 9(1)). The Act excepts, among others, partnerships of lawyers, accountants and other professionals whose rules do not allow them to practise as a limited company (section 9(3)(d)).

• Share money and bank account: subscribers pay for their shares in the time, manner and conditions that SECP notifies (section 17(2), as substituted in 2021). SECP has notified that the money is paid in cash through the banking channel, immediately after incorporation and no later than thirty days from it (S.R.O. 464(I)/2024), so open the company’s bank account early.
• Registered office: notify it to the registrar within thirty days of incorporation, and notify any later change within fifteen days (section 21(1) and (2)).
• Name display: show the company’s name and incorporation number outside its registered office and every place of business, display a certified copy of the certificate of incorporation at each place of business, and print its name, registered office address and contact details on its letterheads and documents (section 22).
• Annual return: a company with a share capital files an annual return with the registrar within thirty days of its annual general meeting (section 130(1) and (3)). No return is needed if nothing has changed since the last one, but some companies must then tell the registrar so (section 130(5)).
• Tax registration (NTN): SECP’s online registration is linked with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) (FBR’s announcement): the details given in the incorporation application are passed to FBR, which issues the company’s National Tax Number (NTN) if they are complete and accurate. Tax returns and other filings then follow under the tax laws; see our NTN registration and tax compliance service.
• Employee registrations: registration with the Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) and the provincial employees’ social security institution can also be requested in the same eZfile application.
• Trade mark: an approved company name is not a registered trade mark. The next section explains why that matters.

The registrar checks a proposed company name under section 10 of the Companies Act 2017, mainly against the names of existing companies. A trade mark is a separate right, registered with IPO-Pakistan under the Trade Marks Ordinance 2001. An approved company name is therefore not a registered trade mark, and a name the registrar accepts can still conflict with someone else’s mark.

If the business will trade under its company name, search the name as a trade mark before you settle on it. Our guide to trademark search and clearance in Pakistan explains the searches, and the trademark registration procedure covers the filing that follows. Our trademark practice can handle both.

SECP’s Company Registration Office in Lahore is at 3rd and 4th Floor, Associated House, 7-Egerton Road, Lahore. Our Lahore office is at 412, L Block, Street 17, Phase 5, DHA, Lahore.

This page summarises the Companies Act 2017 (as amended) and official SECP, FBR and Board of Investment material for orientation only. Forms, fees and procedures change, so check the current position with SECP, or with us, before you file.

International clients: foreign companies and overseas law firms with Pakistan matters can instruct the firm through our Pakistan IP Local Counsel service, or contact us to discuss a company registration question.