Aitizaz Hassan ISLAMABAD, April 04 (INP-WealthPK): The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 334 new Information Technology (IT) companies in Feb 2022. As many as 365 IT companies were registered in January 2022. According to data released by the SECP, among 2,349 new registered companies in two months, 699 companies are registered in the IT sector. The capital of total new registered companies is Rs2.2 billion. The registration of the IT firms in the SECP is the second largest in numbers followed by the real estate corporation. In Feb 2022, foreign investment was reported in 50 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from Afghanistan, Bahrain, Myanmar, China, Cyprus, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Niger, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Turkey, UK, US and Yemen. The SECP record shows that in Feb 2022, about 99.5% companies were registered online including 236 companies by overseas users. 62% companies were registered as private limited companies, whereas, 35% were registered as single-member companies. Similarly, the remaining 3% were registered as public unlisted companies, not-for-profit associations, trade organizations, foreign companies and limited liability partnership (LLP). Officials said the SECP has also set up a special help desk to facilitate investors from China. The staff of Chinese help desk is proficient in the use of the Chinese language, and it aims to provide requisite support to Chinese investors for registration of their businesses in Pakistan. Besides, the company incorporation guide in Chinese, Turkish, Arabic, Urdu and Spanish languages are also available at the SECP website. Fahad Malik, a well-known digital media expert who runs an IT company, told WealthPK that in this era the most progressing industry in the world is the IT industry. He said digital assets are getting more worth in the world. Although, crypto currency is banned in Pakistan, non-fungible tokens are still working in crypto market. The world is going towards a metaverse and digital revolution. In future, another digitally empowered world will be shaped parallel to this world. The most growing areas of the IT sector is artificial intelligence and machine learning. The manual effort is falling its importance. Fahad Malik said that Pakistan is a very lucrative market for international firms that’s why more IT companies are galloping to Pakistan. He said digital service providers in Pakistan serve international entrepreneurs at a reasonable cost. Pakistan’s digital market isn’t only cheaper, but also provides more reliable operations as compared to other markets. “Suppose, if an international firm is paying 1,000 dollars to other markets, the cost of the same service can be 50% lesser in Pakistan. Therefore, various international companies sublet their services in Pakistan. Many Pakistani Fiverr and Upwork account holders are serving the world because of their reasonable cost and quality work,” Fahad Malik said. Fahad Malik said the Government of Pakistan took prudent decisions to unleash the digital industry in Pakistan, and now the country is heading in the right direction. He said the initiative of tax amnesty scheme for freelancers and loan opportunities is a real breakthrough for digital industry. Fahad Malik told WealthPK that one thing that Pakistan lacks is regional offices of international digital firms. “Facebook has point of contact in Karachi but doesn’t occupy an office. Similarly, there is no representation of Google, Twitter and TikTok in Pakistan. The government should encourage the international firms to establish their offices in Pakistan,” he said.