A Milan-bound Air India plane carrying 167 passengers onboard was forced to return to IGI Airport here barely two hours after it had taken off as smoke was "detected" in its cabin.

The flight, which had taken off at around 1500 hours, landed safely back at the airport at 1647 hours, Air India officials said.

The aircraft has been grounded for now, they said, adding that the technical team is trying to find out if there was a fire or it was a "false alarm".