An average of 12,000 new companies were registered every day in China last year as deepened reforms in the business sector boosted market vitality, a senior official said on Monday.

In contrast, the number of new firms registered each day before the government introduced the reforms about two years ago was 6,900, according to the head of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

Zhang Mao, minister of the administration, said at a news conference in Beijing, "With China's economy entering the new normal phase, maintaining sustainable growth is really about maintaining market vitality."

The reforms, which lower the threshold for setting up businesses and simplify the process for entrepreneurs to register or cancel their businesses, have had a great influence in this respect.

Zhang said the newly registered small and micro-businesses employ 7.9 people on average compared with an average of 2.9 people for individual businesses.

"More than 14 million jobs were created in 2015 by newly registered companies, compared with 12 million in 2014," he said.

"Employment is increasing rather than decreasing, and a massive wave of entrepreneurship and innovation is sweeping across the nation. These factors could offset the pressure brought by the slowing economy," he said.

Zhang also said more efforts would be made this year to improve a credit system for companies and to enhance information-sharing between market watchdogs, to create a fair competitive environment.

The Internet industry is among those in the service sector to benefit most from the deepened reforms.

Ren Bin, who launched a mobile app for a door-to-door medicine delivery service in Beijing in late 2014, said the eased government regulations for companies had helped to encourage innovation.

"The threshold for setting up a business is lower, and many angel investors and (business) incubators are betting on the Internet industry's future. These factors generate a great chemistry for innovation," he said, adding that now is the ideal time to launch a technology business.

Angel investors are affluent individuals who provide capital for business startups, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity.

mengjing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 02/23/2016 page3)