SECP Designates Over 39,000 Pakistani Companies Inactive Amid Transparency Drive

KARACHI: Pakistan’s corporate regulator has marked more than 39,000 companies as “inactive” for failing to file their annual financial statements, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) announced Saturday, as part of a wider initiative to strengthen compliance and transparency in the country’s corporate sector.

Companies registered with the SECP are required to submit annual returns—Form A or Form 24—within 30 days of their annual general meeting (AGM). For firms with a standard June 30 financial year-end, the AGM typically occurs by October 28 or October 31, depending on the calendar, making the annual return deadline November 27. If no AGM is held, annual returns must be filed by January 30 of the following calendar year, according to the regulator.

The SECP said it had rendered 39,704 companies inactive, without specifying whether the action resulted from prolonged non-filing or from missing the end-of-October AGM deadline.

The regulator stated that designating non-filing companies as inactive would make the corporate register more reliable and prevent dormant firms from being misused, as their inactive status would be visible to banks and other stakeholders.

“These companies will not be able to open new bank accounts until they file their overdue documents with the SECP and regain active status,” the commission said. “They will also be unable to access financial services or register changes in their directors.”

Of the more than 39,000 inactive firms, 13,927 were in Lahore, 13,859 in Islamabad, 4,868 in Karachi, 2,031 in Peshawar, 1,861 in Multan, 1,384 in Faisalabad, 1,102 in Gilgit, 436 in Quetta, and 236 in Sukkur, the regulator reported.

Filing annual returns and financial statements is a legal requirement under the Companies Act, 2017. These filings keep public information about companies, their ownership, and their management current. Sustained non-filing weakens the corporate register and can hinder efforts to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

“A clean and credible registry is the bedrock of trust in the corporate sector,” SECP Chairman Dr. Kabir Ahmed Sidhu was quoted as saying. “The SECP is protecting the integrity of the financial system while giving companies a clear opportunity to return to compliance.”

Pakistan had 317,002 registered companies at the end of September 2026. The SECP registered 43,559 new companies in the previous financial year, an increase of 24 percent over the year before.

The regulator added that company name reservation and incorporation are now fully digital, with 99.9 percent of new companies registered online.

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