Malini V. Shankar is an Indian bureaucrat and a 1984 batch IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer. She has served as the Director General of Shipping and as the Chairperson of the National Shipping Board (Government of India). Currently, she is the vice chancellor of the Indian Maritime University. Dr. Shankar earned her doctoral degree in institutional economics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (India), and obtained her management degree from the Asian Institute of Management in Manila, Philippines. Additionally, she holds a master's degree in chemistry from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, USA. She also completed her mid-career professional training at the IIAP (Institut international d'administration publique) in Paris, France, where she received a diploma in International Economics.