BUSINESS NAME registrations and renewals topped 70,000 last month, bringing first-half registrations to nearly 630,000, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) reported.

The DTI said business name registrations totaled 71,561 in June, down 2.7% from a year earlier.

Of the total, 62,630 were new registrations, and 8,931 represented renewals.

First-half registrations totaled 629,015, down 7.4% from a year earlier.

Over the six-month period, 537,417 were new registrations while 91,598 were renewals.

In the year to date as of July 6, registrations hit 644,397, comprising 550,721 new registrations and 93,676 renewals.

Some 84.66% of the registrations were filed online, while 14.01% were performed via a combination of walk-in and online transactions.

Women-led businesses dominated the filings, accounting for 60.79% or 391,701 of the total .

Late last month, the DTI launched a P1-billion program for women-owned micro, small, and medium enterprises through its financing arm, the Small Business Corp. (SB Corp.).

Women-owned businesses can avail of between P30,000 and P20 million in SB Corp. loans under the program.

Region IV-A accounted for 118,302 of the registrations, followed by Region III and the National Capital Region with 84,240 and 84,197  respectively.

Some 320,006 of the registrations involved the retail trade, excluding motor vehicles and motorcycles.

Also among the top registrants were food and beverage service activities, real estate, other personal activities, wholesale and retail trade and the repair of motor vehicles. — Justine Irish D. Tabile