The only glitch here is the charges of the service providers, otherwise to my mind gold ETF is any day better than physical gold because one gets immunity from the security concerns when one possesses it in physical form.
Gold is bought for persoanl use and not only as an invewtment
Moreover the creidbility issue of ETFs is very starking and hence it wil not achieve the objective intended for
No. For household savers, buying gold in physical form is better as it insulates against inflation in the falling bank rate environment and relief from tax hassles.