Suppose that a compact quantum group $clq$ acts faithfully on a smooth, compact, connected manifold $M$, i.e. has a $C^*$ (co)-action $alpha$ on $C(M)$, such that the action $alpha$ is isometric in the sense of cite{Goswami} for some Riemannian structure on $M$. We prove that $clq$ must be commutative as a $C^{ast}$ algebra i.e. $clqcong C(G)$ for some compact group $G$ acting smoothly on $M$. In particular, the quantum isometry group of $M$ (in the sense of cite{Goswami}) coincides with $C(ISO(M))$.