The Department of Trade and Industry said Wednesday it registered 932,097 business names in 2022, the highest in the last 10 years.
“The rising number of sole proprietors registering their business names is indeed a positive sign that the Filipino entrepreneurial spirit is alive and recovering from the pandemic. We are pleased that more sole proprietors have undertaken the necessary first step of registering their businesses, starting with their business names,” said Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual.
New business names registered reached 827,491 and accounted for 88.8 percent of overall registrations. The remaining 104,606 involved renewal of registered business names.
The biggest chunk of business registrations, based on the Philippine Standard Industrial Classification, covered retail selling in sari-sari stores with 180,406 applications.
This was followed by other restaurants and mobile food services activities; and real estate buying, selling, renting, leasing, and operating of self-owned/leased apartment buildings, non-residential and dwellings with 75,391 and 32,764 registrations, respectively.
Registered business names totaled 916,164 in 2020, but the number declined 5.2 percent in 2021 to 867,647. Registrations rebounded 7.4 percent in 2022, records showed.
“DTI wants to make business registration less complicated and seamless. As we constantly integrate technology in the improvement of our services, the department is working closely with the DICT to fully implement an end-to end registration, in support of e-governance measures to achieve a more efficient public service delivery and better experience for our citizens,” Pascual said.
The agency said that since the development and launching of the Business Name Registration Next Gen in 2019, applications registered and processed online grew from 35 percent to 75 percent based on the payment collections.
Applicants may also avail of digital payment options such as Gcash, Maya, Credit Cards and LandBank LinkBiz portal for fund transfers.