New York: Virtually zero savings rate among Americans is the basic cause of the weakening dollar, which in turn is adversely affecting Indian IT firms, believes Azim Premji, chief of Wipro and an outsourcing pioneer.

"I think the fundamental problem (behind the weak dollar) is the very low savings rate among Americans - virtually zero percent. In India, it's 35 percent and in China 45 percent," Premji told Forbes.

When asked by the US business magazine whether he was worried about the weak dollar, he said: "The weak dollar is not good for our business, since we get paid in dollars."

However, he thought the dollar has stabilised and will not get much weaker, "because the US is a source of creativity and innovation".

The weakening dollar against a stronger rupee has been hitting the bottomlines of Indian IT firms, including the top three - Wipro, Infosys and TCS - as exports account for a major chunk of their revenues.

Asked about India's ability to attract high-tech industries requiring highly skilled people, the chief of Bangalore-based Wipro that boasts annual sales of about $5 billion, ascribed it to a strong base of engineering colleges. "We will graduate 580,000 engineers this year. The US will graduate 75,000 engineers," he said.