Manisha,
In India, IT/ITES has not yet been declared either as an "industry" or a "factory" though it's understood some sort of 'production' activity is being carried out. Till such time govt. comes out with an exclusive act to govern these entities this business is classified under 'Shops & Commercial Estt.Act' of the respective states. Therefore it should be appropriate to refer to SCEAct for all purposes. However, w.r.t. to your query on Standing Orders, the definition of a 'workman' under SO Act is here under -
Industrial Employment (Standing Orders)Act, 1946
[Act No. 20 of 1946, As Amended by Acts Nos. 3 of 1951, 36 of 1956,16 of 1961, 39 or 19632 , 51 of 1970 and 18 of 1982 [23rd April, 1946].
2. Interpretation.- In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or
context[(a) “appellate authority” means....
xxxxxx
(d) “employer” means the owner of an industrial establishment to which this Act for
the time being applies, and includes-
(i) in a factory, any person named under 14[clause (f) of sub-section (1) of Section
7 of the Factories Act,1948], as manager of the factory;
(ii) in any industrial establishment under the control of any department of any
Government in India, the authority appointed by such Government in this
behalf, or where no authority is so appointed, the head of the department;
(iii) in any other industrial establishment, any person responsible to the owner for
the supervision and control of the industrial establishment;
(e) “industrial establishment” means
(i) an industrial establishment as defined in clause (ii) of Section 2 of the
Payment of Wages Act, 1936, or
15[(ii) a factory as defined in clause (m) of Section 2 of the Factories Act, 1948, or ]
(iii) a railway as defined in clause (4) of Section 2 of the Indian Railway Act,
1890, or
(iv) the establishment of a person who, for the purpose of fulfilling a contract with
the owner of any industrial establishment, employs workmen;
(f) “prescribed’ means prescribed by rules made by the appropriate Government
under this Act ;
(g) “ standing orders” means rules relating to matters set out in the Schedule:
(h) “trade union” means a trade union for the time being registered under the Indian
Trade Union Act, 1926;
16[(i) “wages” and “workman” have the meanings respectively assigned to them in
clauses (rr) and (s) of Section 2 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (14 of 1947).]