I doubt they have a Lowes in India.

Obviously not familiar with what woods you have have in Inda, but cedars tend to be lightweight and not the strongest wood. It is a softwood, not a hardwood.

So I would tend to look for straight grain wood. Stay away from knots as much as I could. That is often a weak spot. I would look for lighter weight woods but not something that is brittle or breaks easy. You don't need the strongest wood, but obviously something that doesn't break easy either.

Most any wood that will bend around will probably work. A heavy wood will only make the boat heavy and not hurt anything else. You probably have lots of things that will work.

And if you have power tools available, scarfing is not a big deal. I have to do it all the time. I just can not find good knot free cedar here.