In the absence of regional offices, the company now sells the products directly to dealers in metro and mini-metro towns, thereby ensuring an effective interaction with end customers and improving overall operational effectiveness, company sources said.

At the retail front, the company plans to cut its strength from the earlier 1,300 to 800 outlets to keep up with its premium positioning. ``We're adopting a selective retail strategy to keep up with the image of the brand,'' Mr Pirani said. The brand will now have a presence only in lifestyle retail outlets such as Shoppers Stop. Meanwhile, the company has reduced the number of layers from four to two across sales, finance and IT departments in the new structure. Though this has not resulted in lay-offs, Bausch & Lomb (India) managing director Mr Harsh Chopra said that at the same time the company had not recruited new personnel either.

The company said by reducing the number of layers in its distribution structure, the company would gain by close interaction with the end users as well as greater value addition at every stage of the channel. The transition of Ray Ban into Luxottica during the year 2000, along with other factors, resulted in a steep decline in the company's turnover during the year. The company had recorded a sales turnover of Rs 40 crore during the year 1999. The company is targeting Rs 30-Rs 40 crore sales turnover for the current year 2001.