There has been a surge in company registrations, after the government slashed red tape, an official of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce revealed.

Since the registration reforms were introduced on March 1, more than 1.76 million corporations registered, 68 percent more than the number of corporations set up during the same period last year, said Zhou Shiping, director of the department of enterprise registration under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Friday.

The key reforms introduced in March were Regulations on the Registration of Company Registered Capital, the revised Company Law and the State Council’s circular to reform the general system of registration.

“The reforms have significantly lowered the cost of entities entering the market, and shorten the time they have to wait before entering,” he said.

According to the revised Company Law, stockholders of a corporation no longer have to submit the registered capital within two years after the corporation is set up, unless there are special requirements on their corporation.

The revised law has also canceled the minimum amount of registered capital required to set up corporations, again except for special requirements.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce has set up an electronic system recording credit and other information of enterprises around the country. The information, including annual reports, and any administrative penalties the industry and commerce authorities have imposed on them, will be available to the public.

“It helps guarantee the safety of commercial activity when access to the market is more open,” said Zhou. “The system helps to improve the transparency of both the corporations and the government authorities, and improves the supervision on the market entities by the society.”

The reform will further improve the environment for investment and business operations, and help create more jobs, Liu Yuting, deputy head of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency.

“It will especially offer a huge impetus to the development of small and medium-sized companies,” he said.

Shi Tiantao, a professor of finance and law at Tsinghua University, told Xinhua that investors now have more options to suit their needs.

“Without a limit on the minimum amount of registered capital, investors can decide which kind of company they want to set up according to their own ability and the actual amount of capital they have.”

wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn