With the appointment of Mahendra Kumar Sharma, former vice-chairman of Hindustan Unilever Ltd, as an independent director of Wipro, it is clear that the tech giant wants to strengthen its corporate governance practices.

A person with legal background, Sharma has served as a member of the Corporate Law Committee formed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to redraft the Companies Act.

He was also a member of the Committee on Corporate Governance formed by the Union government.

"Wipro has always adopted highest standards of transparency and adherence to responsible and ethical conduct in all aspects of business operations. These are also Sharma's areas of strength. His appointment to the board will further strengthen Wipro's corporate governance practices and add to the growth," said Wipro chairman Azim Premji, in a

statement.

Sharma's appointment will be effective July 1, 2011.With this, Wipro's board will have 12 directors, including nine independent directors.

In May 2007, Sharma, 64, retired as the vice chairman of HUL, where he was responsible for HR, legal & secretarial, corporate affairs, corporate communications and corporate real estate functions, among others.

Sharma, who holds a Bachelors degree in Law from Canning College University of Lucknow, has also completed a post-graduate diploma in personnel management from Delhi University and a diploma in labour laws from the Indian Law Institute, Delhi.

After a six-year stint in DCM Limited, Sharma joined HUL in 1974 as a legal manager, as a part of which he handled legal and secretarial work in diverse areas.

In April 1990, he joined the management committee of HUL as vice president, legal & secretarial. He was inducted into the board of HUL as a whole-time director in August 1995.