The median forecast in a poll of 40 economists by Bloomberg News was for a 6.6 percent rise.
Industrial production measures output at factories, workshops and mines, and the figure also slowed from a 6.8 percent increase in June.
Retail sales, a key indicator of consumer spending, rose 10.5 percent in July from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, just below a 10.6 percent forecast in the poll.
Fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, expanded 11.2 percent on-year in the January-July period, the NBS said -- also below an 11.5 percent median estimate, and the lowest since December 2000.
The data came as China's economy has continued to slow in 2015 after growing last year at 7.4 percent, its weakest pace in nearly a quarter of a century.
Growth in gross domestic product has decelerated further this year, expanding 7.0 percent in each of the first two quarters.
The central People's Bank of China cut the value of the yuan against the dollar for a second consecutive day Wednesday, moves which should make Chinese goods cheaper overseas, giving exports a potential boost.