Dear Seema,
I would like to request you to go through the definition of the term ' industry ' u/s 2 (j) of the ID Act,1947. There is no
stipulation about the minimum or maximum no of employees in the Act other than certain employment contingencies such as lay off, retrenchment, closure.
Therefore, if there is a single employee and the purpose of the entity is to satisfy human needs or wants, then it becomes an industry.
It follows then that the correlation between the no of employees and the industry comes into play only with reference to nature of the prime activity of the industry and the application of certain conditions of employment such as wages, bonus, gratuity, social security etc. For example if the primary or principal activity is manufacture, it is a factory falling under the FA,1948; if it is raising of certain specified crops in an integrated manner, it is a plantation falling under the PL Act,1951. Similar is the application of labor laws relating to different conditions of employment as pointed out by Mr.Majumdar. Here, the nature of statutory restrictions. and complication of application require the stipulation of certain minimum number of employees for the sake of ease of systematic compliance.
These apart, the nature of constitution of the entity like Limited Company, LLP, Sole Proprietary, Trust or Society registered under the Societies Registration Act etc., in general, has no relevance in the application aspect of labor laws.