I don't know how India has called itself a superpower. Comparing to Cambodia, a much smaller country though Covid-19 cases and mortality is also much smaller. However, when the crisis come, the government of Cambodia prepare a specialized crematorium for Covid-19 victims. There is some sort of legal process before cremation but relatives are not allowed to get near to the body. Bodies of deceased are cremated at specialized scene and equipment (cremated by electricity, not wood). All expenses covered by government. So there's no problem of sky rocket prices for crematoriums.
To be fair, Indians use wood for religious purposes. Apparently different castes use different varieties of wood.
This more nuanced to explain. India may claim that it is religious tradition to cremate the dead with wood. But I would invite people to check out the Indian communities in Malaysia and Singapore. There are strong Indian communities here. They are able to practice their religion here with a good degree of freedom. Mainly Hindu, Sikh, and Islam. Take Hindu for example. They can build Hindu temples and shrines. They can build temples on 'holy grounds' in Malaysia such as Batu Caves. They can celebrate their own festivals like Diwali, Thaipusam, and Pongal. Even funerals can be conducted according to Hindu traditions.
But, cremation is conducted in regular crematoriums. For the poor Indians, they could cremate at public crematoriums for a minimum fee. They use LPG there, not wood. There is no uproar that I have heard of from the Indian community about having to choose to cremate with wood or not. Hell, we even have Indian Hindu cremations done at private funeral service providers who do cremations for Chinese communities. Those ones are more expensive, and they use more modern methods.
So in my opinion, the cremation process perhaps is not as religiously significant as the funeral. India even has modern crematoriums.
I believe the real reason why we see so many cremations carried out with wood is because of a lack of infrastructure, and funding by the govt. There is not enough modern crematoriums, so they use the good old method: wood and open pyre. Every body that is cremated appears to be at private expense. I doubt there is many if any, public crematoriums.
The government of India could not give a damn about its average citizens. Imagine what one USD 240mil spent on a Rafael jet could buy in terms of hospitals and even crematoriums. Look at the USD 140mil budget for the Central Vista project. Which includes a new Palace for PM Modi. Given more priority than the Covid-19 battle. So I think it all comes down to just one thing: the Indian government just couldn't give a f**k about its citizens. Its head is stuck inside the cloud of India superpowah fantasy.