Lenovo K3 Note - is root required to install the stock ROW ROM?

So I understand there is an Indian/International version of the ROM (rest of world) for the Lenovo K3 Note.

Is rooting required to install the stock ROW ROM?

How can one confirm they have a legitmate *stock* Lenovo ROW ROM? I would rather manually remove some stock bloat, then risk installing spyware from custom ROM (and having to root).

Anyone know what this is at Lenovo's site? -

"Open Source Code - K3 Nnote (Lenovo K50a40)
279 MB
Android
V1.0
8/7/2015
Open Source Code - K3 Nnote (Lenovo K50a40)
Alias ID:
Document ID:DS104361
Last Updated :07 Aug 2015
© 2015 Lenovo"