Read the given passage and answer the following questions based on that. The non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are important constituent compone...

Read the given passage and answer the following questions based on that. The non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are important constituent components of India’s financial system. These are private sector institutions and have been there since the 1940s, although formally recognized by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) only in 1964. This sector has grown substantially over the years, with the size of assets becoming almost 13% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) . These are regarded as shadow banking entities and their activities largely fall outside the regular banking system. Being an emerging market economy, a considerably large section of the Indian society still remains out of the reach of the formal sector financial network. The NBFCs act both as substitute and complement for the banking system. They offer various banking services but do not have a banking license. NBFCs cater to niche areas, such as automobile financing, gold loan, and agricultural credit. Success of the NBFC ecosystem is due to its diversified product lines with low costs, wider reach, lower bad debts, and better risk management. NBFCs in India fill the gap in extending financial services that still remain unfulfilled by the banking sector NBFCs are perceived to have quick decision-making ability, bring in flexibility as per the requirements of the customers, and assume greater risks and hence are free from the rigid structure of the banks. However, the overall vulnerable nature of the NBFCs in India remains a serious cause of concern. For instance, the so-called India’s mini-Lehmann moment is crucial here. The Infrastructure and Leasing Financial Services (IL&FS) went bankrupt, affecting the funding channels for other NBFCs in the market and created a scary situation for the banks as well (since banks, which are the major sources of funds for the NBFCs, hesitate to lend further to infuse liquidity) . Although, a possible predicament in the NBFC market may have far-reaching implications on the formal sector banking. Unfortunately, this segment does not get any direct support from the central bank to tide away the crisis. Thus, even when the literature on Indian banking is voluminous, that on NBFCs is astonishingly ______________________.
In the given passage, the word "rigid" is used to describe the structure of banks in contrast to NBFCs. Which of the following words is a synonym of "rigid" as used in the passage?