SHANGHAI'S Pudong New Area will start a trial program to lower the capital threshold for registered group companies to attract more investors.

Pudong's Administration for Industry and Commerce said businessmen can register a group company in the area as long as the parent firm has registered capital of 30 million yuan (US$4 million) while the combined capital of the whole group must top 50 million yuan.

In other parts of Shanghai, parent companies should have a registered capital of at least 50 million yuan while the combined capital of the subsidiaries and the parent should be one billion yuan for a group corporation to register.