NEW DELHI, India - July 29, 2008 - Facing threats of a global crash, the central banks have taken "extraordinary" action on a scale not seen since the Great Depression of 1929, the Reserve Bank of India said on Tuesday.

"Central bank interventions (to deal with the global financial turmoil) have been extraordinary and on a scale not seen since the Great Depression, demonstrating a resolve to act decisively against threats to financial stability," RBI said.

Recently, the Bank for International Settlements, the organization that fosters cooperation between central banks, had also warned that the credit crisis could push world economies into a crash on a scale not seen since the Great Depression.

The 'Great Depression' started with the collapse of the U.S. stock market in 1929 and was the largest economic depression in world history and is used now as a benchmark on how far a modern economy could possibly fall.

The RBI said recent developments in the global financial system has heightened the uncertainty in the outlook.

It added that though the possible crisis in global finances "seems to have been averted, several vulnerabilities persist in the leading financial centers."

The Reserve Bank said even "massive" interventions by central banks' could not defreeze market liquidity. Though, the central bank pointed out, the ultimate size of losses among the largest financial institutions and their capital requirements remains opaque, and the balance sheets have become extremely sensitive to re-pricing and valuation changes.