BEIJING - [Businesses Registration]The number of newly registered companies has continued to climb since the government took steps to streamline the process in March.

About 2.5 million new companies were registered during the March-October period, an increase of 56.2 percent from the same period last year, data from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce showed Thursday.

The registered capital of these new companies totaled 12.97 trillion yuan ($2.1 trillion), up 90.21 percent year on year.

China lifted restrictions on minimum registered capital on March 1, a move aimed at encouraging start-ups and energizing the economy.

By the end of October, [Hong Kong company registration]there were 67.48 million registered market entities in China, with registered capital totaling 129.97 trillion yuan.